LETTER OF THE DAY: Time to stop the Commercial Road rot
Commercial Road shopping centre? I think most of us would agree that the shopping centre is in decline, partly because a large number of us do our shopping online, including me.
But to partly stop the rot how about something like this?
Take the Debenhams building next to the fountain, have the ground floor as Debenhams, which, I think, is struggling, the first floor as Marks & Spencer and the top floor for something like Knight & Lee.
The empty Marks & Spencer store could be turned into an indoor market, which are popular in the north of England, with individual stalls selling things such as meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, clothes and a whole host of other products.
The empty BHS store in The Cascades could be used for something else, such as an ice rink on the ground floor, with maybe a Costa Coffee, McDonald’s, or a food court like the one that used to be in The Cascades, on the floor above.
I think we need to be a bit radical now, or Commercial Road will die.
Any suggestions anyone?
Philip Pyke
Westwood Road, Hilsea