I really enjoyed this! Thanks for the trip down memory lane and the reminder about my own love of old, clapped out malls. I grew up in West London (the fabled Shepherds Bush) and a trip to Whiteleys was the ultimate luxury after our feeble offering of Kings Mall(If you remember Kings Mall, you’ll know this was the ultimate 80s/90s mall, we even had a Blockbusters - oh yes!! It also had an Athena, which was a proper destination shop, where we would head to admire the black and white photos of topless men cradling babies, and a chance to browse the 7 inch singles and later cassettes in Our Price. Ooh, that was a big bracket!). Whiteleys was exciting because it was next to the ice skating rink, and was where we would often have birthday treats!
I think my love of old Malls runs adjacent to my love of pound shops and charity shops. There’s the whiff of the treasure hunt to them. You never know if you will come across a truly bizarre, yet wonderful shop and pick up something brilliant. And they provide that little moment of quiet, in their deserted wonder.
Thanks for this - as you can see, you got me going! X
Ah, The Royals in Southend. Or to give it it’s full name The Royals Shopping Centre. I’m not sure it properly classes as a mall (mini mall perhaps) but it was the closest Southend was going to get to one until the behemoth that was Lakeside opened up near(ish) by.
Even in its heyday it was far from hey…in reality, this was fancy glass housing for Debenhams and a few other shops that got in on the act. Being a kid when it opened, I had no time at all for Debenhams so me and my friends would loop between Choices video store (both rentals and retail versions of VHS were ridiculously overpriced so we never spent any money there) and the Hammicks bookstore, which I imagine we treated as a library - I definitely remember us being asked to leave one afternoon having sat there all day clearly reading a book cover to cover that we had no intention of spending £3.99 on.
But the real action happened in the food court. From memory, an Italian (frozen pizza), American (Birds Eye burgers), Traditional English (jacket potatoes) and a chippy that no one ever ate at because we lived by the seaside and they were ten a penny outside (and better). But we were teenage girls so obviously didn’t eat anyway but instead spent our time nursing a coke and smoking endless cigarettes. It blows my mind now to think that I lived in a time where you could buy 20 B&H, some kind of snack for sustenance and still have change from a fiver to get Vox magazine.
Amazingly The Royals still survives, although the Debenhams has now gone (sad times, now that I’m old enough to maybe appreciate the value of Debenhams - actually, scratch that) but I’ve not been in there for at least 15 years. This has made me want to visit the next time I’m down though and was a nice trip down memory lane so thank you.
St Lukes in Auckland, NZ, in the mid-00s, was dire, and I loved it, it had a magazine store in those last precious years of glossies, with imports from around the world (I may have read my first New Yorker there), and a rancid movie theatre filled with youths, and a sushi joint which memorably once stacked all the tables around me as I ate then had all the staff have a team meeting as I battled through a california roll set. Went there earlier this year and it doesn't have quite the same aura of despair, but I was there on a sunny weekend not a grey mid-week afternoon.
Closer to HQ, the Southside in Wandsworth appears to be doing OK but feels like a throwback. It's about to get a Lidl, apparently.
Going to Brent Cross as a pre-teen was like a trip to another world…kaleidoscope lights, fountains, Fenwicks, giant wooden turtles (no me neither) oh I loved it.
always had a soft spot for the Arcades in Leeds, Broadmarsh Nottingham was my everyday route to the fabulous Market square and hostelries. The rest of them mean little... A great read though...
I went to college in Southampton, 91-93 and have a lot of fond memories of the Marlands and Bargate centres, as well as what I think was the East St Centre nearby, an old 60s centre, like Brent Cross but much smaller and much more low rent, where I'd buy a cheese toastie in the newsagent. West Quay in Southampton seems to have cannibalised the Marlands now (I had to kill some time there recently) so it's an odd two-location centre strung out across the lower bit of Southampton.
How could I forget the East St Centre? Down by Rumbelows (RIP). That was in a league of its own for faded glamour – as in it never seemed to have any glamour to fade in the first place. I liked its logo though.
In celebration of this article, I highly recommend a visit to Croydon's not-yet-dead, yet not-quite-alive-either Whitgift Centre, if you haven't already. I visited so many times during lockdown and, whilst those times were undoubtedly more apocalyptic than general times, it very much feels like a relic. (PS Thanks for bringing back my Meadowhall memories... for me, trips there were all about the bonding experience with my mum, so I have fond memories whenever I drive past it these days) x
Oh I know the Whitgift! I didn’t realise it was still there – it seemed to be in critical condition when I was last in there years ago. They filmed something quite high-profile there, can’t remember what. There’s something quite lovely about it.
Meadowhall was THE one! I remember it opening, such a thrill! x
I really enjoyed this! Thanks for the trip down memory lane and the reminder about my own love of old, clapped out malls. I grew up in West London (the fabled Shepherds Bush) and a trip to Whiteleys was the ultimate luxury after our feeble offering of Kings Mall(If you remember Kings Mall, you’ll know this was the ultimate 80s/90s mall, we even had a Blockbusters - oh yes!! It also had an Athena, which was a proper destination shop, where we would head to admire the black and white photos of topless men cradling babies, and a chance to browse the 7 inch singles and later cassettes in Our Price. Ooh, that was a big bracket!). Whiteleys was exciting because it was next to the ice skating rink, and was where we would often have birthday treats!
I think my love of old Malls runs adjacent to my love of pound shops and charity shops. There’s the whiff of the treasure hunt to them. You never know if you will come across a truly bizarre, yet wonderful shop and pick up something brilliant. And they provide that little moment of quiet, in their deserted wonder.
Thanks for this - as you can see, you got me going! X
Kings Mall in Hammersmith is another shopping centre saved from the jaws of death by a Lidl!
Wow! A Lidl! I’ve not been down King Street for years!
Ah, The Royals in Southend. Or to give it it’s full name The Royals Shopping Centre. I’m not sure it properly classes as a mall (mini mall perhaps) but it was the closest Southend was going to get to one until the behemoth that was Lakeside opened up near(ish) by.
Even in its heyday it was far from hey…in reality, this was fancy glass housing for Debenhams and a few other shops that got in on the act. Being a kid when it opened, I had no time at all for Debenhams so me and my friends would loop between Choices video store (both rentals and retail versions of VHS were ridiculously overpriced so we never spent any money there) and the Hammicks bookstore, which I imagine we treated as a library - I definitely remember us being asked to leave one afternoon having sat there all day clearly reading a book cover to cover that we had no intention of spending £3.99 on.
But the real action happened in the food court. From memory, an Italian (frozen pizza), American (Birds Eye burgers), Traditional English (jacket potatoes) and a chippy that no one ever ate at because we lived by the seaside and they were ten a penny outside (and better). But we were teenage girls so obviously didn’t eat anyway but instead spent our time nursing a coke and smoking endless cigarettes. It blows my mind now to think that I lived in a time where you could buy 20 B&H, some kind of snack for sustenance and still have change from a fiver to get Vox magazine.
Amazingly The Royals still survives, although the Debenhams has now gone (sad times, now that I’m old enough to maybe appreciate the value of Debenhams - actually, scratch that) but I’ve not been in there for at least 15 years. This has made me want to visit the next time I’m down though and was a nice trip down memory lane so thank you.
It is always, always ALL about the food court. Loved hearing about The Royals, thank you!
St Lukes in Auckland, NZ, in the mid-00s, was dire, and I loved it, it had a magazine store in those last precious years of glossies, with imports from around the world (I may have read my first New Yorker there), and a rancid movie theatre filled with youths, and a sushi joint which memorably once stacked all the tables around me as I ate then had all the staff have a team meeting as I battled through a california roll set. Went there earlier this year and it doesn't have quite the same aura of despair, but I was there on a sunny weekend not a grey mid-week afternoon.
Closer to HQ, the Southside in Wandsworth appears to be doing OK but feels like a throwback. It's about to get a Lidl, apparently.
Hahaha amazing.
Lidl seems to have saved many a shopping centre from extinction
Going to Brent Cross as a pre-teen was like a trip to another world…kaleidoscope lights, fountains, Fenwicks, giant wooden turtles (no me neither) oh I loved it.
I remember there was also a giant wooden horse, which was quite tricky to climb inside, and REALLY tricky to climb on top of.
And some third animal too. Something long & snakey, but perhaps not an actual snake.
always had a soft spot for the Arcades in Leeds, Broadmarsh Nottingham was my everyday route to the fabulous Market square and hostelries. The rest of them mean little... A great read though...
You and I went to Meadowhall a few times.
Yes of course, we even took Gwen…
I went to college in Southampton, 91-93 and have a lot of fond memories of the Marlands and Bargate centres, as well as what I think was the East St Centre nearby, an old 60s centre, like Brent Cross but much smaller and much more low rent, where I'd buy a cheese toastie in the newsagent. West Quay in Southampton seems to have cannibalised the Marlands now (I had to kill some time there recently) so it's an odd two-location centre strung out across the lower bit of Southampton.
How could I forget the East St Centre? Down by Rumbelows (RIP). That was in a league of its own for faded glamour – as in it never seemed to have any glamour to fade in the first place. I liked its logo though.
In celebration of this article, I highly recommend a visit to Croydon's not-yet-dead, yet not-quite-alive-either Whitgift Centre, if you haven't already. I visited so many times during lockdown and, whilst those times were undoubtedly more apocalyptic than general times, it very much feels like a relic. (PS Thanks for bringing back my Meadowhall memories... for me, trips there were all about the bonding experience with my mum, so I have fond memories whenever I drive past it these days) x
Oh I know the Whitgift! I didn’t realise it was still there – it seemed to be in critical condition when I was last in there years ago. They filmed something quite high-profile there, can’t remember what. There’s something quite lovely about it.
Meadowhall was THE one! I remember it opening, such a thrill! x