Victoria Centre, Nottingham
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The Victoria Centre is a large shopping centre in the city of Nottingham, England. The centre has a retail floor space of 91,135 m² (981,000 ft²) and 116 shops [1]. Its two main host stores are John Lewis and House of Fraser and it has the Boots the Chemist's (which was founded in Nottingham) flagship store. It also has a large indoor market which sells a whole manor of foreign goods. Other notable stores are The Entertainer, Topshop, Evolution store, Swarovski, GAP, Tesco Metro and HMV.
The centre stands on the site of the old Nottingham Victoria railway station, which was demolished in 1967. The clocktower and the (now) Hilton Hotel are the only parts of the old station to survive. Some see the shopping centre as an utter abomination, pointing out that what used to be there was a grand victorian railway station building. This is indeed a stark contrast to what now stands on the site, as, above the shopping centre itself rise the 25 floor, 250 foot high Victoria centre flats, which run North to South the entire length of the centre.
The centre itself was built between 1967 and 1972 by Taylor Woodrow. In 1973, the sculptor Roland Emmett commissioned a water powered clock known as the The Aqua Horological Tintinnabulator. This whimsical sculpture is still in full working order.
The Victoria Centre's position as the premier shopping centre in Nottingham may be threatened by the proposed development and expansion of the nearby Broadmarsh shopping centre.[citation needed]