ARCADE
Cheltenham
First shopping arcade
On a recent visit to Cheltenham, I was keen to include in my itinerary a visit to the Montpelier district where the very first shopping arcade in Britain opened. This was featured in a TV programme ‘Britain’s Most Historic Towns’ when Professor Alice Roberts visited Regency Cheltenham. It was fascinating to see how it had been restored but, sadly, no longer a retail destination as two of the units were used as wine bars and the rest lay empty. However, as you can see from the picture(s), it’s still an interesting place to visit for historical reasons but you won’t need to dedicate much time as it is only a few metres long! Liz Johnston FBDS
