Businesses have described the shifting sands of a main street in Nottingham city centre where a 'mix of old and new' has been forged. Carrington Street has significantly altered over the last few years, most notably with the demolition of the Broadmarsh shopping centre and the construction of the Broadmarsh bus station and library at the end of the street.
A boutique gym was recently set up as well as a new cake shop, adding to the independent businesses and better known brands along the street. At the other end of Carrington Street, near to Nottingham train station, the nine-storey Unity Square tower was opened earlier this year, bringing with it thousands of Government employees.
Businesses on the street said it now has a mix of the old and new parts of the city, and that they hoped the changes would bring prosperity back to the area. Stefan Priest, 29, a sales assistant at E-cigarette Outlet on Carrington Street, said: "Broadmarsh is still the big question but it encouraging to see the street changing and things happening. It's a mix of old and new, the train station is an iconic building, some of the other ones could do with a clean but then you have the new library and the HMRC building too at the other end [Unity Square].
"There's a lot of variety and a lot has changed in the seven years this shop has been here. But some of the buildings could do with a sprucing up, some of the older ones are a bit jaded compared to the new ones.
"We get a bit of a flow from the train station but it is still not what it was in the 90s in terms of trade. This end of town has been a lot quieter without Broadmarsh but now it looks like that could change."
A £20m bid was recently made to the Government's Levelling Up fund by Nottingham City Council to prepare the centrepiece of their Broadmarsh vision. Under current plans, the frame of the derelict shopping centre would be retained and reimagined into a unique space to bring people together in the city for play, performance and food, supposedly creating 6,000 jobs, 750 homes and more than 400,000 sq ft of commercial and business space.
Michael Meliow, 46, the owner of Carringtons chippy, thought the changes would positively contribute to the area. "It is changing for the better, hopefully in a big way. The last 10 years or so years we have been in limbo with the Broadmarsh," Mr Meliow said.
"Hopefully that [Broadmarsh] should look good and add to the other buildings and businesses that are now here. There are
"We are suffering from it not being there. In 1985, when we set up, this area was just as popular as the Victoria Centre."
Han Moilikhan, 22, who works at Crunch Munch, said: "There's a lot that has been going on. It is a bit of a mix now with the newer buildings coming to this street, which has a lot of nice older ones.
"If there is more around it is good for business. It would draw people in, and there many businesses on this street that could be helped by that."
A new pedestrian route opened this on Friday, September 9 providing a direct open air link between Collin Street leading to Carrington Street and Listergate. City Council Leader, David Mellen, said: “The opening of this route is a small but significant step in the redevelopment of the Broad Marsh area. It is the first time since the 1970s that people will have uninterrupted open air access between the Southside of the city into the city centre.
“The space that it crosses, created by demolishing the western end of the old shopping centre, is proposed to become the ‘green heart’ of the vision for Broad Marsh – a total transformation from what was there before.
“It comes as progress continues on fitting out the new Central Library and surrounding streets and as we await the Government decision on our bid for £20m for Levelling Up Funding to start to bring the Broad Marsh vision to life.”
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