Search online for the Worcestershire town of Evesham, and you'll be promised riverside charm and a vibrant market culture. Yet visitors seeking last-minute Christmas gifts at its Riverside Shopping Centre are met with a starkly different reality, a near-derelict shell that has become a symbol of high street decay.
From Bustling Hub to Leaking Shell
From the moment you enter its multi-storey car park, the warning signs are clear. Less than a week before Christmas, the space is dark, empty, and covered in graffiti, with rubbish scattered across the ground. The stairwell down to the shops reeks of urine, a situation locals attribute to the closure of the centre's toilets years ago.
"In the early 90s, every shop used to be full, it used to be a lovely place," recalled Mike Hancox, 85, who was having coffee in Coffee Moments, one of only two remaining outlets. Now, where a children's clothes shop once stood, the Evesham Sanctuary operates, helping many foreign nationals. The contrast with the past is profound.
A Centre Held Together by Buckets
The prolonged wet weather has exacerbated the centre's problems. Its glass roof leaks extensively, leading to a forest of buckets and 'Wet Floor' signs. The cafe has been forced to close a seating area due to persistent puddles. Yet, incongruously, Christmas music still echoes through the deserted walkways.
For residents like Charlotte Broderick, 37, a legal secretary and mother-of-three, the decline is personal. She remembers festive grottos and mobile reindeer displays. "Now I try to avoid the place," she said, blaming owners who she claims are driving out businesses with extortionate rents ahead of planned redevelopment into flats.
The car park is another source of frustration. "The only thing that works are the cameras," Ms Broderick noted, warning that faulty payment machines often lead to unsuspecting drivers receiving £60 fines.
Absentee Owners and a Community's Hurt
Jonathan Hall, 66, a retired business owner, gave the centre's festive atmosphere a rating of "minus one". He believes a series of London-based insurance company owners "don't care a jot" about Evesham, raising rents to unviable levels.
Many trace the terminal decline to the closure of Woolworths in 2008, with the COVID-19 pandemic delivering a final blow. Lisa Mitchelmore, 59, a retail worker who was there when the centre opened in 1987, described it now as a "big eye sore". She confirmed cleaning staff had been laid off and owners were simply waiting for leases to expire.
The management office, marked by an official-looking door, offers an intercom for service. Unsurprisingly, no one answers.
For a town proud of its medieval abbey and the River Avon, the centre's state is a source of embarrassment and hurt. Retired couple Christine and John Biggins lament the unsafe, filthy car park that unsuspecting summer festival visitors often encounter. John, 68, nostalgically recalled a popular clock with a moving swan that hasn't worked for years.
Despite a vocal local Reform councillor campaigning for change, the community feels powerless. "The property owners have the Council over a barrel," John Biggins concluded, "so it's just degradation and no change for now." The Riverside Centre stands as a bleak monument to a lost era of community retail, its empty halls a stark contrast to the festive spirit it was built to foster.
