Arbury Court
From "Phase 1: Understanding your neighbourhood and establishing a vision (map)"
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I really want to say something positive about Arbury Court, but I'm really struggling to. Despite the investment in the area just a few years ago this is such as grey, depressing a d unwelcoming area. All of the shops are set back so look dark and uninviting. Many of the shops close early and are only open for limited amounts of time at the weekend, so when I can go there all I see is shops with their shutters down. Perhaps it's very vibrant on a Monday lunchtime, but whenever I go there it's dead apart from a few people going to Budgens (which is much worse than it was before its makeover). It's so much more appealing to jump in the car than it is to go there and I really don't want to feel like that. I want to support the local shops but I find fewer and fewer reasons to go there, plus opening times don't fit in my schedule.
The whole area is now 65 years old and I think we have to question whether it is still working as well as it should - back in the day it would have been a bustling area during the week as there were a lot more stay at home mums doing the shopping during the week. That just isn't life now. The generation that first moved to the area in the early 60s (including my family) are almost gone.
