Online_Activity_2

The top end of town nearest the Post Office is the busiest as it has all the trendy places such as River Island, Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and Starbucks. It is also home to the former Westgate hotel which has now been converted into luxury apartments for the ultimate City living experience. As I walk through the town I can see the layers that have formed Newport previously I took those for granted almost as if I walked around with my eyes shut and in auto pilot. I now notice the architecture of the old buildings compared to the modern new structures, the layout, fashion changes, social patterns and history of the street. All these are things I wasn’t aware of before. There is also a lot of advertising of various stores and food places with ‘best prices’ trying to lure the public in there direction. The more I look around town I can see the ‘ordered lives’ aspect such as street signs and seating area’s all there to maintain some everyday public order without us even realising. However, when I start to walk downtown towards Pillgwenlly it starts to dramatically change. The shops are not as up market, there are more charity shops, pound stores and shops that are no longer in business, shabby empty buildings and lots of takeaway restaurants, fast food shops and a few small intercontinental stores it doesn’t have much ‘kerb appeal‘. This end of town I find is similar to city road in Cardiff as this is where the local shop owners are struggling with the competition of the“ Trendy” end of town and the well known larger stores. (‘Making social lives’ 2009 scene 3) This end of town is also where the one way system is it is quite a busy road but the footfall of customers is unfortunately not as busy which will also knock the local shop owners businesses. To move up town their rent would increase dramatically leaving them in a catch 22 situation. Could this be the beginning of the end for local shop owners in the City Centre' I think it quite possibly could be with the new development plans in place for the riverfront which are due for completion by 2020 although the fast food shops may do well with the new University opening nearby there will be a lot of hungry students who love bargains.