[WillowTheWhisp]

What I originally posted was:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

before the Arndale we didn't have a Marks & Spencers. That came with the very first stage of the Arndale way back when the sunken gardens were lost.

I think the older members of AccyWeb will have realised what I was talking about. That block with Woolworths and M&S when both stores were L-shaped, one leading into Union St and the other coming out opposite the Odeon cinema, was and is "Arndale House" ie the very first stage of Arndale as I said, when the sunken gardens were lost. We haven't always had a Marks & Spencers.

We did previously have a Woolworths which just relocated into the Arndale building but M&S was brand new back then and considered quite a coup for the town.

As far as the car park is concerned it was a condition of building on the old car park (behind the original bit of Arndale) that an equal number of parking spaces would be provided to make up for those being built upon and that they would continue to remain free of charge.