Everything tagged with “The Big Bang”

1. In Defence of Chains

   10 June, 2007:

   We hear a lot about how generic English town centres are due to the proliferation of chain stores and restaurants, and I’ve complained about this in the past. Today, partly because I’ve just had a nice lunch in Café Rouge (nearly 100 branches throughout the UK) and am sitting in a comfy brown leather chair in Café Nero (over 300 branches), I’m going on the defensive. Is a generic English town centre actually as bad as we’re led to believe?

   2 comments

2. The Big Bang

   8 February, 2005:

   Although Oxford has pubs and shops and restaurants in abundance, like most English towns it’s overwhelmed by chains. Though a certain amount of snobbery has kept the likes of Woolworths and Wilkinsons away from the centre and safely tucked away in the surrounding smaller towns, the central retail areas still lean dangerously close to generic.

   19 comments