K Village

In the mid-nineties, and for the ten years that followed, we'd regularly go to K Village in Kendal. It was a retail outlet, and I can't really remember what other shops were there, but we went for the K Shoes outlet, which meant we could afford school shoes for our burgeoning family. 

But it was a popular destination, and the car park would often contain coaches of people who'd come on a trip just to do a bit of shopping, and then perhaps wander through Kirkland into Kendal itself.

Then in the 2000s, the place was demolished and rebuilt in what might best be described as a capitalist calamity. It opened with most of the shops unfilled, although there was a Cadbury's outlet and, later, a Costa, both of which I enjoyed.

The apartments and offices upstairs couldn't be let, allegedly due to a weight miscalculation by the architects, and then there was an attempt to change the terms of use from the planning application. The local shops were not happy with this. There was talk of a cinema, but the Brewery Arts Centre was rightly in opposition to this plan.

These days it is a Travelodge, although there is also a gym there, and when I went past, today - walking along the river and regretting the closure of the Costa - I did notice that a firm of architects have taken one of the offices. Maybe things are looking up!

(They're not.)