The Arndale Centre

Someone years ago had a bold idea: to bulldoze the entire inner town centre of Luton and turn it all into a huge shopping mall. At least they named the aisles after the original street names. At a similar time the beautiful Edwardian library was demolished and is now a poundsaver, just an indication of the sensibility of the time. There is nothing we can do about that now so we just need to accept the Arndale for what it is: the dominant landmark in the town center.

The name Arndale comes from the two founders Arnold Hagenbach (a baker turned business man) and Sam Chippendale (an estate agent) who were inspired by the big malls in the USA and brought the concept to the UK. Each Arndale became the largest shopping centre in Europe and Luton's centre had this status before being upstaged by the Arndales in Wandsworth and Manchester.

The centre closes at about 6-7pm and with it all the coffee shops restaurants and pub it contains: the Traders Arms. The Arndale effectively divides the town into two halves so in the evening the central isle is left open later so that people coming into town from the train station don't have to walk around the complex at night.