Brewery Square

Just round the corner from me there used to be a brewery, run by Eldridge Pope. A few years ago they suddenly shut the brewery and sold up, causing much doom and gloom. Now the site is being developed as a housing/shopping/entertainment/hotel complex and the first bits of it are open. We now have a Carluccio's, a Nando's, and Odeon multiscreen and a coming soon a Pizza Express.

It's been interesting to watch the work develop. There have been times when the site has been teeming with yellow-coated men. When they were setting the cobbles and paving in front of the cinema I once counted 70 men in that square. Now the work is concentrated at the inner part of the site, away from public eye, and I am eager to see what else is coming.

The Odeon cinema is rather looked down on by the good people of Dorchester. There is already a Plaza cinema in town which charges £2.50 a seat every night and locals fear the Odeon will put the Plaza out of business. So for the last few months there have been big crowds attending the Plaza to show their solidarity and puny attendances at the Odeon. Maybe people power will put the Odeon out of business? Interesting idea, but unlikely.