Cabot Circus

Fans of Romero's classic 1978 film Dawn of the Dead, will find plenty of opportunity for nostalgia in Bristol's new Cabot Circus. Romero used a zombie filled shopping mall to provide a grisly commentary on mindless and unrelenting consumerism. After my visits to Bristol's newest shopping centre I noticed how people lulled into suggestive states by shiny new things also look very similar to the living dead searching for their dinner.  Bravo Romero.

For me there was no shortage of shuffling bodies and startlingly uniform vacant stares. I do however have many other problems with Cabot Circus. It was supposed to bring the city together, the wealth of Clifton Village with, well everyone else, hmmm...

So the designer part looks rather attractive. Lots of clean open space and a fountain. People here (when you spot one) look very self conscious, perhaps their lack of numbers making them feel conspicuous. Find great big stores filled with eerie silence, gorgeous things and hoards of anxious sales staff terrified for their unnecessary jobs. Has anyone actually seen even a solitary shopper with a Harvey Nichols bag by the way?

Then there is the descent (and it feels like an actual physical descent) into the less upmarket ‘indoor' section. No surprises here in terms of stores, lots of High Street names; Topshop, H & M, New Look etc etc. These shops are much busier but then they were busy where they used to be too and I'd wager full of the same people.  Nowhere near the amount of design and thought that characterises the designer section can be seen here. What do they think? That the plebs will be happy with whatever they get whereas the rich need to be seriously impressed? If you have any of the class warrior within you, you will not be happy.

I do like the high tension glass ceiling it's in sections and it slopes gracefully leaving a lot of space uncovered. It's ambiguous whether it's an inside space, although when I lit a cigarette a woman in a fluorescent top (waistcoat?) waddled over to tell me to put it out.  

It's so much better than Broadmead that it's barely worth mentioning. It's like saying not shopping in a pig sty is better than shopping in a pig sty. Cabot Circus is very steel and glass. It doesn't look awful, it looks fine, it looks clean and urban. The problem is you could be in any British city, or shopping in any airport. I just don't think that's enough. Bristol is an exciting place to live if you're creative. I'd guess that the talented people that are drawn here to be a part of that are deeply disappointed by the unimaginative design of their new shopping centre.