What a depressing sight city street is

FOR the first time in a while I walked down Hertford Street towards Warwick Road, what a depressing sight. It must be very off-putting to people coming from the train station who have never before been to Coventry.

This used to be a popular part of Coventry city centre with many shops that I would have visited. Of the shops still open there are few that I would imagine going into now.

It now looks very rundown, uneven paving slabs covered with litter and chewing gum. A number of empty shops, some looking to have been shut for a long time, does little to make it more appealing.

I realise that Hertford Street is part of the proposed city centre regeneration scheme but unless a major department store, such as John Lewis, agrees to come then the development is a non-starter.

This is a pity as many people still walk through Hertford Street but few seem to stop and shop.

I suspect that the retail area in the city centre will decrease in size over the coming years as more stores close due to online shopping.

For the regeneration scheme to go ahead then something other than shops will have to be built.

We could perhaps have a new hotel, music venue, theatre or cinema. Its unlikely to be any of those, but I’m sure we all have an idea what probably will be built in our student city.

R Goodfellow, Coventry