'Terrorised' Manchester shopping centre was commercial disaster patrolled by 'machine gun-toting teen'
A doomed shopping centre - said to have failed after as a result of gang intimidation and violence - lasted less than 20-years before bulldozers tore it down.
Concrete maisonette blocks ranging from six to 13-storeys high were built to house the community surrounding the precinct. The residential cost of building the homes came to £2.5m while the commercial heart of the estate, including the shopping centre, exceeded £3m. "The centre, built on a 35-acre site at the junction of Moss Lane East and Princess Road, houses 83 shops, seven large stores and a covered market. The entire centre is covered and heated to protect the shoppers from the weather."
Towner cited reports of "an alarming chapter of vandalism and violent attacks" since the district centre had opened two-years earlier. The journalist said: "The sports centre was hit by wreckers within six days of opening. By April 1981, just six years after it opened, the district centre and its shopping precinct had already acquired an unenviable reputation. But worse was still to come.
"There is no underlying problem of security there," he said. "People do not want a stalag-type security system, with armed guards strutting around." The ex-Royal Marine wrote he was walking through the precinct during a trip to Moss Side when he was confronted by a 15-year old boy. The MEN covering the publication of Mr Ashdown's book reported the MP alleges he was wandering through Moss Side shopping centre when: "A youngster comes up to me and says: 'What the hell are you doing here? If you are not dealing, f*** off!' As he does so he pulls his bomber jacket back to reveal the butt of a sub-machine gun.
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