07:12 Friday 9th March 2012
Peterborough Breakfast Show
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
PAUL STAINTON: Trevor Pearce is ..Chairman of the Peterborough Local History Society. Do you remember the .. centre of Peterborough pre-1982?
TREVOR PEACRE: I do indeed Paul. Yes.
PAUL STAINTON: Was it a vibrant centre at the time?
TREVOR PEARCE: Yes it was. You’ve got to remember, in the middle of what is now Queensgate, was Perkins Engine factory.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes.
TREVOR PEARCE: That’s where it all started. There was also a huge printing works. There was a big department store called Trollope’s, and numerous little shops. And I think something like fifteen pubs.
PAUL STAINTON: Was there really?
TREVOR PEARCE: Yes.
PAUL STAINTON: Really! It’s before my time. I came in ’89. It was all built then. It was all sorted, and running very very nicely. It’s undoubtedly been a success.
TREVOR PEARCE: Indeed.
PAUL STAINTON: We were one of the first places to get a shopping centre. And that was a great thing. But has it had a detrimental impact do you think on those independent shops that we had before?
TREVOR PEARCE: Yes. Maybe. I think there was a huge price to pay. It was a labyrinth of tiny little streets. Very narrow little streets. And I think there was a price to pay for that centre. But at the other side of the coin is I think we came off pretty good, because it’s a good centre. You compare it with the Broadmarsh or the Viccy Centre in Nottingham ..
PAUL STAINTON: Hmm.
TREVOR PEARCE: We’ve come off quite well.
PAUL STAINTON: Well the Broadmarsh is half empty all the time. That’s the thing. (THEY LAUGH)
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