Wood Green Shoping City from Mayes Road, 1980

Comment by Jeremyb on September 14, 2018 at 8:19

The garage/filling station in the foreground was demolished years ago, supposedly for a Debenhams store which never came , and is still a vacant site.

Comment by Tom on September 14, 2018 at 11:01

Great shot, love the combination of bleakness and optimism. When I was a child (80s) the shopping city looked like the future...

Where's the picture from? I'd love to see some more from the era. And higher resolution... :)

Comment by Hugh on September 14, 2018 at 11:05

Jeremy, I seem to remember a petrol station replacing the parking area. Is that right? I didn't know that it was slated as a site for Debenhams. 

Tom, I'm sorry that's the only shot I have, but I'd guess that there would be a series somewhere. This one looks like it may have been taken by a professional photographer.

Comment by Jeremyb on September 14, 2018 at 17:21

The petrol station is there in this picture- you can just see a Texaco sign if you look carefully! The parked cars are for sale I think. The 20th Century Society love this building and featured it as their " Building of the Month" some years back. It's a fairly rare example of a "megastructure" combining several functions- i.e. shops, parking, flats, offices, gym, cinema and hotel in one structure.

Comment by Hugh on September 14, 2018 at 17:27

Thanks for that, Jeremy.

Here's a link to the 20th Century Society's pice on the building.

Comment by Hugh on September 14, 2018 at 17:39

And here is it in 2007:

The above  image is licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic licence - Attribution: Julian Osley

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