Is Brent Cross the most banal place in existence?

[@kenbakie4590]

Tweedy, I must say that the brutalist architecture really suits the area's whole dystopian vibe. The North Circular road and the A41 flyover only add to the stark and desolate landscape. I can't think of any shopping centre that looks less inviting. I love it.

[@andrewdolinskiatcarpathian]

Hi Tweedy. Brent Cross opened to great wonderment in 1976. The UK’s first out of town shopping centre. With great excitement I accompanied my parents to experience the unbridled joy that is the “Brent Cross Experience”. It left such a lasting impression, so much so that we never ever returned! 🥴

[@TweedyMisc]

It does sound like it was a pivotal moment!

[@LazerBenabba-w9o]

You are no loss to BX.

[@LeonDerczynski]

The worst thing about watching this video was being on a plane and so having to wait ten hours to write "BEREFT! It's BEREFT. For goodness' sake"

[@Misty_Bottom]

Like the physical representation of being stuck in a room with an Ed Sheeran album stuck on loop.

[@TweedyMisc]

Exactly!

[@PuncturedBicycle-wy4po]

I’m going to go with a simple yet accurate: “unpleasant”.

[@andersrimmer6675]

A particular infertile experience indeed (as in "unable to sustain a sense of joy, wonder, amazement, curiosity - indeed, unable to sustain life itself...")

[@michaelbricknell8409]

The wonderful gloom and grimness of the film - together with the tongue in cheek soundtrack gave me the giggles and cheered me up. Strange, but thanks!

[@barrypain4188]

A word that is the polar opposite of wonderful and magical? Dunstable, perhaps

[@Maitreya0208]

Our man Tweedy letting his inner smart-arse out? Huzzah!

[@ianmcclavin]

Green Line coaches are almost extinct now, but when the network was still substantial, routes local to Brent Cross (e.g. 708, 732, 717, 734) used to make a point of calling in there, with some singke journey excursion routes from places like Harlow and Bishop's Stortford also used to run. Within about 10 years, the attraction of Brent Cross asxa major crowd-puller from further afield had diminished somewhat, with only local red buses serving its purpose-built bus station!! I quite enjoyed my first few visits there back in the 70's; it seemed a different place totally last time I went in.😊

[@infoscholar5221]

Consider "Soulless." dear Tweedy.

[@sisselbrenna5769]

What will our descendants say? "They even called this progress!!"

[@colin5021]

Welcome to modernLondon...

[@havbeen18]

Yes the UKs first shopping mall. They ran bus tours to the dreadful place. I visited once in the late 70s and never returned. Sadly the concept is everywhere and now impossible to avoid.

[@garrymartin6474]

That place reminds me of the Meadowhall (know locally as Meadowhell) shopping centre in Sheffield. Some claim it was designed so it could be converted into a prison if it failed as a shopping mall.

[@MattMesserPics]

"Underwhelming", is the word that springs to the mind, if that helps... I never thought that I would so thoroughly enjoy a video about a sopping centre. Well done! The stairway to heaven 🤣- I might watch it again to train myself up in acid wittiness - always difficult for the non native speaker...

[@TweedyMisc]

Thanks Matt! I didn't set out for the day with any intention to make this video, but the circumstances were out of my control, and there I was with two hours to kill at Brent Cross... I wish I had at least taken my audio recorder along so the talking would be a bit easier to hear above the din of the traffic but that's the beauty of this channel - I promised nothing so there is no chance of it being a disappointment!

[@lespattison704]

I would say a crap place. I really like your vlogs mate. Please keep them coming.

[@hashtag_thisguy]

Shit. That's the word you're after.

[@galveenus8499]

This genuinely made me laugh out loud!

[@Micktyb]

I remember going there as a 9year old child on a Saturday it was a big day out and my parents purchased a new pair of shoes for me and my brother and sister I recall 😂it was much smarter back in the day 😁😁

[@JimChampion]

See also 'Bicester Village' designer outlet shopping centre in Oxfordshire. A black hole for the soul.

[@TweedyMisc]

Agreed.

[@MorningtonCrescent]

"Come friendly bombs..."

[@juleswombat5309]

What no food preparation? I saw a few shrubs and bushes you could have made settled down to brew up a tasty meal next to some nice views of the great North Circular road. At least the North Circular is more effective than the South Circular(for driving)

[@Thefisherman27]

A truly depressing part of London.. Soon coming to an area near you..

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

Give “jejune” a go. It would probably add something to the description if used in conjunction with banal, but you’re right, there is not one single word that can adequately convey this Dante’s inferno of a place! A few more: “vapid”, “truistic” and “prosaic”. Do you think the architect imagined we’d be doing this, when he sketched out his grand plan for a retail heaven?

[@TweedyMisc]

Oooh jejune! That's particularly cutting. The dictionary definition of banal is "so lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring" which isn't exactly what I'm thinking when I feel motivated to use the word. A place could be unique and still be in possession of this (apparently hard to describe) quality. Wikipedia tells me Brent Cross opened in 1976 and was "the first out-of-town and American-style indoor shopping centre in the country". So at the time of its opening it would have been unique, at least within the UK. I suppose we have to look at it in that context of the economic gloom of the 70s. I see from that article contemporary opinions of it weren't exactly glowing either: "The massive and featureless rectangles of the Brent Cross Shopping Centre... come as no surprise. They are just as hideous as everything else. But step through the doors and here is prettiness and femininity - just as soulless and just as commercialised as the filth outside, but a veritable perfumed nirvana." There we go - soulless - that's pretty close to the word I was looking for!

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

@@TweedyMisc I think I've actually been there, but years ago. Probably 80s. I'm pretty sure I used the word "soulless" when I came back! It does the trick, I think. Add in the current decline of retail and 40 odd years of hopeless neglect in the surrounding area, and this is what you get. It was someone's dream of a bright new future once...

[@TweedyMisc]

@@WC21UKProductionsLtd I wonder now if the building of Brent Cross Shopping Centre was in fact the catalyst for everything going downhill?

[@WC21UKProductionsLtd]

@@TweedyMisc there's a video concept in that idea...

[@TweedyMisc]

@@WC21UKProductionsLtd ...and a potential cease and desist order!

[@geoffjones9978]

Fab! Just like Ian Nairn.

[@JustcallmeKathi]

That's not bad in terms of suburban bleakness (LOL at your commentary), but I think I could easily find places in my city that rival it. It's apparently an international style. The sign on the bridge looks like it's from Berlin, the font is very recognizable. Why it is there? ... sometimes these slightly neglected places can become quite enigmatic.

[@Blair338RUM]

😂😂 You need a bottle of Burgundy to fortify yourself. And I thought nothing could come close to Soviet era architecture

[@FeoragForsyth]

So why is there a Berlin street name sign on a bridge to a shopping centre in London?

[@Mark.Andrew.Pardoe]

Whato Tweedy, The buses are not for an entrance but are an exit and quick get-away. After all, West Hendon is just round the corner.

[@TweedyMisc]

I always like to imagine Hendon is a Japanese dish - after all they have gyudon, tendon, unagidon, oyakodon... Essentially anything in a bowl on top of rice. As it happens "hen" in Japanese also means strange.

[@jeanpeuplu5570]

Zombie land at its best... The only shot I would save is the one of the red buses in the parking lot. Just love London red buses, especially the double-decker ones of course ! Last but not least, they provide a quick and cheap way of escaping from zombie land ^^

[@TweedyMisc]

The reach of London buses is indeed quite impressive! There's a surprisingly charming village called Downe which is technically within Greater London and if I recall correctly is still served by London buses.

[@terryjacob8169]

Post-WW2 London bombsites had infinitely more charm............

[@TweedyMisc]

It is hard to fathom what they were thinking isn't it? I guess there was a kind of utilitarian outlook to many building projects in the 1970s - money was tight and there was a bit of a sense of gloom about everything. Although, that said, I can't say I particularly like many of the buildings from the ensuing decades when the architects were all apparently feeling more optimistic, either...

[@TheTimGowen]

Alight at Hendon Central and walk, and the approach is much nicer…

[@SimonRichardsTFA]

Although Brussels compares favourably to Brent Cross in most respects, it has given rise to the word, 'Brusselization', which might be the word you were looking for: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brusselization

[@nlpnt]

The interior's not up (down?) to the standard set by the exterior. Isn't John Lewis a major, midprice national retailer like Kohl's (or Sears in its' prime)? Come back when it's replaced by an indoor flea market, a nondenominational church or whatever the British version of Big Lots is.

[@HelenKempster-t6y]

How about dispiriting.

[@london19657]

It used to be cool. Back in 1985, really.

[@cparsec5524]

You missed out by not showing more on how unfriendly the area is to pedestrians. Plenty of roads with no pavement and wet tunnels esp on the northern crossing over the A406

[@Chilternwildcamper]

The word I use is grim. But yes, sadly we have lots of opportunities to use those words we lack. That place looks awful....

[@TweedyMisc]

Whatever this word is that I can't put my finger on, it only applies to entirely manmade environments. Some bits of countryside are nicer than others but here in the UK at least I've never experienced anything like this sensation in a rural setting.

[@hedleythorne]

May Brent Cross shine as a beacon of mediocrity for generations to come.

[@loslaureles1883]

Oh dear. What a depressing tip

[@mancroft]

Dismal mall - dismall.

[@TweedyMisc]

That's impressively compact!

[@jamesgeorge8915]

I doubt you'll get a bed it that hotel!

[@davidberlanny3308]

Well it wasn't all bad, you caught some great shots of busses on the move, stationery too. Once you're inside a shopping centre you could be anywhere in the world!! Maybe the word you were looking for to describe the architecture was carbuncle!!

[@TweedyMisc]

Thanks David - there seems to be a lot of affection for buses in the comments here! I've somehow never quite warmed to buses to the same extent as trains, but I suppose the two are not so far apart in some way. Carbuncle is certainly a good suggestion for the architecture! ...but I still felt there should be something beyond that for describing the experience of spending time in these places, which seemed to be lacking from the English language...

[@davidberlanny3308]

@@TweedyMisc I shall be consulting Roget Yes, buses!! I have a fondness for old buses perhaps it's nostalgia as I didn't when I was younger. Apart from the red corporation buses in Portsmouth we had South Downs buses, green in colour. The older single deckers look superb. I remember being out in the east end 5th April 1992 and as we headed off to the tube we saw a group around a bus taking photos. I didn't realise at the time that it was a Routemaster, perhaps one of the last? Although I think they are still used on historical routes. Now why do I know that date?....

[@davidberlanny3308]

Melancholic, desolate, depressing, uninspiring, a dump!! But of course, being champion of youth speak, it's your chance to enlighten us ...... or make something up!!

[@TweedyMisc]

@@davidberlanny3308 Desolate is definitely a step in the right direction!

[@AllotmentFox]

Yes, desolate.

[@johnstout5767]

Try "meh".

[@send2gl]

I'm no fan of Brent Cross shopping centre but think your description a wee bit unfair as it relates more to the approach rather than the Centre itself.

[@TweedyMisc]

Agreed, it is more a critique of Brent Cross et environs.