BHS, RIP

Today is the last day of trading in the city centre for the high street store British Home Stores, or BHS, as it's known.

The Broad Marsh based department store will finally close its doors at 5pm this afternoon, after having a closing down sale for the past few weeks, since the company went into administration earlier this year.

Other stores across the country belonging to the company have already shut. In total, around 11,000 people will have been made redundant from the 163 shops. British Home Stores have been a familiar name on the high street since 1928. Similar in a way to Woolworth's, that disappeared a few years ago.

It's not because the company isn't popular anymore. It's actually down to legal theft. Around £570 million has been syphoned out of the company, including the companies' pension fund, by the previous owner called Sir Philip Green, and the new owners, who actually bought the company off Green for a pound, sometime last year.

It is a prime example of capitalism gone bad. While the former employees with be signing on at the Job Centre, Green will be enjoying life on his new £100 million super yacht, docked in the tax haven of Monaco.

There have been calls for Green to have his knighthood taken off him, and that he should be made to pay some money to the employees' pension fund. No action has been taken yet. But hopefully it is only a matter of time.

Lines

The Broadmarsh Shopping Centre was built around 40 years ago and so is getting a little run down, especially with all the boarded up shops dotted around the two floors.

But plans are afoot for it to be dragged into the 21st century. There have actually been plans for it for years, but nothing has happened up to now.

While the frontage of the centre may look enticing, the rear part of the building less so.  It has been completely neglected. I can't even remember when it was last used. If it ever was. It certainly doesn't help that it's in an area that people don't really walk near. Only perhaps photographers, people up to no good and the homeless.

Still it makes a good urban decay subject, with lines, lines everywhere.

Brutal Architecture

No one can really say that this is great architecture. It's part of the Broad Marsh shopping centre, and it certainly is ugly.

Even if it is not a part that is easily seen from the street, I think they should still have taken a bit more care with it. Maybe if they mended the windows thinks might look better.  But there are plans for the whole shopping centre to be redeveloped, so maybe it will happen then.

Rush Hour

Shoppers going and passing through the Broad Marsh shopping centre.

Waiting

I forget who said that bus stations are full of lost people and lost suitcases, but walking through the one in Broad Marsh, the people there certainly look lost, whilst they wait for their bus to take them to their destination.

Twas A Dark And Stormy Night

Well we've had another day of gale force winds and lashing rain. So much for turning the clocks forward on Sunday.

I was out tonight, meeting up with with some Twitter buddies. Of course it was raining on the way back to the car park, so I stopped and took a few photos of the traffic passing by the Broad Marsh, using the black & white filter on my camera.

£3.50

This multi-storey car park close to the Broadmarsh shopping centre, used to be known as the Arndale car park, but it has recently been rebranded as the Maid Marian Car Park, with some new singe & a lick of paint at the entrance.

£3.50 is actually quite cheap for all day parking in the city centre, and actually 10p cheeper than getting the bus. Although of course you have to take into account petrol and running costs, and of course the amount of time wasted in traffic jams.

Playing By Numbers

The well known band The Magic Numbers visited Nottingham today and played in our local Fopp music store. It has recently moved from its original Queen Street shop to one in the Broad Marsh after being there for over thirteen years.

They were meant to start playing at 5pm, but were fashionably late by about twenty minutes. Nottingham's roads and traffic strike again!

Although there weren't that many people in the shop to listen, those that were there, were very appreciative of the songs that were being sung.

Fashion Parade

I was meant to be heading to the Old Market Square at lunchtime to see what was going on at the Great Notts Show, but I got sidetracked in the Broad Marsh shopping centre.

Walking through the doors I heard some loud music and a big crowd looking at something.  It was a fashion show of some description. It turned out to be clothing designed by students at a local college who have been doing a foundation course in fashion.

Some of the designs were really strange, and something you certainly wouldn't want to wear when you pop off down the supermarket! Experimental I think they call it.

In The Red

Walking through the Broad Marsh shopping centre at lunchtime, I saw a load of people standing around in a sort of semi-circle. Hello I thought, what's going on here then.

So I headed towards the throng, and was surprised to see Ed Milliband, the leader of the Labour Party standing there, chatting to shoppers.

I think he was in town today because the country goes to the polls on Thursday to vote in the European elections and Ed was here to drum up some business for the Labour candidate.

Some political commentators have nicknamed him Ed Moribund, as he's not the mot dynamic of men. I'm not sure how many people he managed to convince, but it bought a bit of excitement to the city centre.

Chop Suey

This old Chinese restaurant has been empty for years. I've eaten there once. Christmas 2002 I think it was, with the team I used to worked with. Afterwards we went bowling, which I found a bit boring and never seemed to end.

The food at the Pagoda wasn't bad as I remember. We went for the buffet selection and it was all served on a Lazy Susan, which had been placed in the middle of our table. So round and round Susan went, as we kept picking things from the dishes. I don't think we got that much prawn toast. And I love prawn toast.

Then one day it closed. A few years ago now. Big plans drawn up by Westfield's, the owners of the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre, to extend it to where the Pagoda and some other buildings stand. But then the recession set in and the plans were put on hold and everything went quiet. Lots of shops in the Broadmarsh are boarded up now and others empty. There isn't that much on offer for shoppers at the moment.

Then last year Westfield's quickly announced that they had sold the Broadmarsh to another company called Intu.  and a couple of weeks ago it was announced that the redevelopment was back on, but not to the huge scale that it once thought.

The scaffolding began to go up around the Pagoda a couple of days ago. So as I pass there every lunchtime on my way to the shops and the Old Market Square, I'll be able to keep a watch what happens to it and what sort of business it turns into.

He Packed His Trunk And Said Goodbye To The Circus

A lot of very large and highly decorated elephants have appeared across the city centre this week.

This distinctly British one stands proudly at the entrance of the Broad Marsh shopping centre.

There is also a stall where you can buy smaller versions of these colourful pachyderms.

Will see if I can track some more down while they are in town and shoot them the only way that all animals shoot be shot. With a camera and not a gun.

Shopping With Attitude

The shoppers in the Broad Marsh were a bit surprised today when local boxing champion Carl Froch turned up to give a boxing demonstration with some sparring to his adoring fans.

He was also there to promote his forthcoming match in Manchester. Of course the media pack were there, filming, interviewing and photographing him in action. Naturally I was there as well to capture the event for posterity and for your enjoyment.

No Snow Man

Well the countdown to Christmas appears to have stated, with the festive adverts now on TV. John Lewis' Bear and the Hare cartoon is charming and worth a look. Sure it must be available on YouTube for my non UK visitors.

Anyway last week the Broad Marsh shopping centre put up its tree and animated snowmen in a very colourful display.

I've noticed quite a few people stop and take some photos on their mobile phones. So today I thought I would have a go. With my OMD of course and 45mm portrait lens.

Tunnel Of Doom

The other day I recognised a photo on Facebook of the tunnel in the Broad Marsh shopping centre that leads to the bus station.

It was in black and white and so made the area look even more gloomy and uninviting, than it already is. Even though it is one of the main thoroughfares to the bus station. There were a couple of kiosks along there, but they closed down years ago. In fact the whole shopping centre has been earmarked for redevelopment. But it is an awful long time coming. A change of owner hasn't really helped, as they seem more interested in extending the Victoria Centre, which they already own. So the Broad Marsh limps on, even though half the shops are empty.

So back to my photo. Taking some inspiration from Crash Taylor's photo, I decided to shoot the tunnel from the other end. A shade more light, as the entrance faces the street, but just as uninviting don't you think?

Moving Time

For some reason, I've not come across that many photos of car transporters on the Internet. I'm sure there are, but I've not seen any.

So I thought I would put this one on. It had parked up, as some new hire cars were being delivered to the local Avis depot near the Broad Marsh shopping centre.

Stairway By Heaven

This are the escalators into the Broad Marsh shopping centre. Yes, it's another fisheye picture. And yes, they are my feet.

The entrance is off Middle Pavement, and before the shopping centre was built, there was a narrow hilly lane called Drury Hill, that from the old photos that I've seen had shops on it and it was very photogenic; a bit like The Shambles in York.

But it all disappeared in the late 1960s when they started constructing Broad Marsh. The shopping centre is meant to be having a multimillion pound facelift, as it is looking rather tired, and several of the empty shops are boarded up. Plans keep being announced, but nothing has really started yet.

Monkey Business

This is Charlie the Chimp, and he has been an attraction at Gordon Scott's shoe shop in the Broad Marsh shopping centre for over 30 years. There was some worry about him recently, as he had been missing from the shop window for some time. Apparently he had been away to be renovated, as spending years and years doing flips, had taken its toll on his workings.

The Music Man

This marble plaque commemorates the spot where a musician locally known as 'the Xylophone Man' sat and entertained the passing shoppers, with his unique musical style. It was unique, as he just tapped the bars of his children's toy xylophone at random and stamped his foot. He did make the trip to the Broad Marsh Centre a bit brighter.