Brewery Square, Dorchester

The second phase of the Brewery Square development completed earlier this year. It comprises a good deal of housing (apartments) and about a dozen shop spaces. As yet the only shop in operation is an up-market furnishings shop (an offshot of the long-established Woods furniture store) and the others are vacant. It really needs a critical mass of shops to move in here so that others follow. It should eventually become a secondary shopping centre alongside the main shops in town. The new hotel, pubs and restaurants are all doing really well though and the square with its funky fountains is a great attraction on a hot day in the school holidays.