A matter of taste

I travelled to the Trafford Centre early, ten of us were meeting to take a mini bus on a tour of four projects which are up for award. I’m involved in judging again this year, I haven’t been on any visits for 5 years.

I arrived far too early, so had a walk through the Trafford Centre, which at this time of the morning is almost devoid of shoppers. Again, I haven’t entered this retail and leisure emporium for over four years. It always makes me smile. The detail and decor, (which is not to everyone’s taste, including mine) reflect at scale the taste of the chairman of the company that built and owned the Centre (selling it on many years later, although the chairman retained a role). His evident pride in his achievement shines through, whatever you think of the decor. There are portraits of many of those involved in the scheme in one section, each accompanied by a classical female figure (there are many of those in this temple to the god of shopping, many of them semi-clothed). I looked for the chairman and found him (extra).