With this in mind, last month saw the opening of One New Change - a petite shopping mall right on the doorstep of the city. In the interests of keeping you all informed, Miss Mannequin smartly sidestepped the city boys this weekend to inspect this latest adventure in retailing.
On rounding the bend at St Pauls, the facade of the building is indeed inpressive, contrasting rather alarmingly with the stately profile of the cathedral itself. Indeed the adjacency to St Pauls feels most peculiar! Given, if I lived in Milan or Rome I should probably be used to this type of thing. But i do wonder what the clergy make of it (apart from the shortened proximity to an inexpensive prawn sandwich, of course)!
Populated with the usual suspects - mid-range multiple fashion brands, everyones favorite food hall, suit, shirt and city paraphanalia suppliers of every persuasion, the usual small cafes and 2 heavyweight restaurants- Jamie Olivers barbecoa and Gordon on his way soon! Interestingly Jamie has also opened a butchery (is this indicating a new hunter gatherer trend pandering to men? or just an update on the male creche from the usual sports bar)! Whichever, it was very popular. The centre itself was strangely laid out - escalators took you up and into each floor easily enough - but getting out was another thing. Shoppers seemed to be milling around the lifts looking puzzled, as indeed was I, there were no obvious stairs to be located. I eventually escaped in a forgotten lift to the side of the top floor, wondering what would happen in an evacuation! I generally thought that New Change would serve a purpose, for that frantic dash for a handbag, tie or baguette at lunchtime, destination, however it was not .......... NEW CHANGE or NO CHANGE.... i ask myself?
New Change Shopping Mall - with spectacular views over St Pauls!
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