EXCLUSIVE Inside Britain's saddest shopping centre: Town centre mall empty just DAYS before Christmas as depressed locals say 'it's a disgrace' By ROSS SLATER Published: 11:31, 21 December 2024 | Updated: 11:40, 21 December 2024 e-mail 8 View comments To venture into Evesham's Riverside Shopping Centre is like accidentally finding yourself on the set of a Christmas horror film. Picture the scene: it's four days until Christmas and the six-story car park appears deserted. There's a modern payment system that requires your registration plate but it is otherwise ghostly.
Another car arrives, revs up and takes the corner from 2nd to 3rd floor almost on two wheels. This is not normal. A door that looks like it might lead to some shops is bolted so perhaps it has actually closed down.
But no, the sign says the shopping is on the sixth floor so it's into the stairwell which smells like the Gent's toilet at a sporting fixture. Litter is everywhere, along with discarded condoms. It is empty.
Then it gets creepier as you approach the dimly lit door on floor six for there is the sound of Christmas music piping out of a tinny sound system. Picture the scene: it's four days until Christmas and the six-story car park appears deserted The central feature now is a cordoned off area under the domed, glass roof where strategically placed buckets collect water when it rains Of over 40 units, only three are open – Home Bargains, a small mobile phone shop and the café Behind the door is light.
