Randomness

Trinity Leeds

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Next month, a new shopping centre will open in Leeds, called Trinity Leeds, after almost six years of construction.

Unlike most shopping malls this isn’t an out of town development; Leeds already has one in the form of the White Rose Centre. Instead, this will take over some under-utilised land in the city centre and open out onto Briggate, a street which ranks in the top 10 busiest in the UK for pedestrian footfall.  When it opens, it will have around 120 shops and will therefore add significant retail capacity to Leeds.

A trinity of shopping centres

Leeds Trinity isn’t all new. Around a third of it is the pre-existing Leeds Shopping Plaza, which used to be called the Bond Street Centre prior to its redevelopment in the 1990s. This has stayed open during the works, albeit with significant disruption.

The rest of the site consisted of two other shopping arcades. The Burton Arcade consisted of shops in the Arcadia group – Topshop, Topman, Burtons and so on. This was built in the 1970s, but demolished as part of the redevelopment with those store moving to temporary locations elsewhere in the city. The other was the Trinity Arcade; similar architecture and also built in the 1970s, but was looking very run down with low prestige shops by the time it was closed and demolished.

The new build for the shopping centre takes place on the site of the two arcades, with a bridge link to the old Leeds Shopping Plaza which has been extensively refurbished, both inside and out.

Not so much a mall

Trinity Leeds could be compared to the Eldon Square shopping centre in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which is one of Britain’s more successful city centre shopping malls, but it will actually have more in common with the Liverpool One development. Though there will be a roof over it, and it will be on multiple floors, the centre will actually be open to the elements and will re-open streets that have been closed off for years as thoroughfares. The hope is that it will integrate as part of the city.

Shops, new and old

46 of the shops in Trinity Leeds will be new to the city. Apple will open their first store here; until now, Leeds has only been served by resellers as Apple’s recent expansion in the UK has passed it by. Several other fashion retailers will also open, since Trinity Leeds is not too far away from the Victoria Quarter where many of the more boutique fashion shops have set up around Harvey Nichols.

Marks and Spencer will expand their existing Briggate store into the centre, adding 20% to the floorspace of what is already one of their larger stores. Meanwhile the existing BHS and Boots stores in the old Leeds Shopping Plaza will remain.

Creating a vacuum

Whilst 46 of the shops in Trinity Leeds will be new, that leaves more than half that aren’t. Obviously some of those were part of the existing Leeds Shopping Plaza but others already have shops in the city and will be moving into the new centre. Christine and I were shopping in Leeds on Saturday and a number of shops already have ‘To Let’ signs up, ready for them to relocate. This was particularly noticeable on Lands Lane, which actually meets Trinity Leeds in the middle; there, Ernest Jones, River Island and La Senza all have signs up, presumably ahead of a move. Meanwhile the former Clintons Cards shop on the same street, which was closed when the chain went into administration last year, has laid empty for some months now.

Further up on The Headrow, the huge Primark store will up sticks as well, leaving a big empty shop in its place; Next is also moving out of its prominent Albion Street store. And on Greek Street, in the city’s financial district, I wouldn’t be surprised if Carluccio’s and Wagamama decide not to keep their existing restaurants as they open up new ones a couple of streets away.

Meanwhile, The Core, which is one of Leeds’ other shopping centres further up Lands Lane, is basically empty. The only shops still open there are those that open onto the street, bar one gadget shop on the top floor which was devoid of customers. The Core used to be the much busier Schofield Centre, but a drawn-out refurbishment some years ago led to footfall dropping and now the place is basically empty. One of the flagship units has been taken over by 99p Stores – hardly the high prestige shops that the owners were hoping to attract.

And on Briggate, opposite what will be the western entrance to Trinity Leeds, the Central Arcade has recently re-opened following redevelopment, but again, with almost all of its shops empty. Of the two units with a prime location on Briggate, one is empty and the other one is a branch of Gregg’s the bakers.

It’s the economy, stupid

Despite these issues, it’s good to see major investment in a city centre, especially now. We’re approaching five years since the credit crunch kick-started the global economic meltdown, and Britain is on the verge of recession for the third time since 2008. It’s really tough for the high street right now with HMV in administration along with Blockbuster and Republic, and Jessop’s has been wound up, all in the past six weeks. Any major development like this may help to restore confidence in the high street. But my worry is that the economy is so fragile that the rest of Leeds will suffer as a result, when successful shops move and take their footfall with them.

There’s quite a bit more information about Trinity Leeds in this article from My Life in Leeds which is worth reading.

Free audience tickets for TV recordings

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Reef

If you fancy an evening of entertainment, for free, then one great way of doing this is by being in the audience for a TV recording. Many TV shows are recorded in front of a live audience and in the vast majority of cases the tickets for the audience members were given away free. Christine and I have been to a couple of recordings ourselves, and I have some knowledge to impart on the subject.

1. Find out where to get tickets

There are a number of different companies and organisations that offer tickets. Sometimes this is the broadcaster or the production company itself, but more often that not a third-party company will provide the audience and there are a number of such companies that operate in the UK.

They will list the shows that they are currently offering tickets for; you may also find that you can join a waiting list for tickets for their more popular shows, even if they are not due to be recorded for some time (remember that some shows are recorded as much as 6 months in advance of transmission).

The main ones to look at are:

  • BBC Shows – for TV and radio programmes made by the BBC themselves
  • Applause Store – for big shows like X-Factor, Big Brother, but also shows like QI as well.
  • TV Recordings – some smaller shows like Russell Howard’s Good News and Not Going Out
  • SRO Audiences – generally used for Channel 4 shows like 8 Out Of 10 Cats and 10 O’Clock Live
  • Lost in TV – game shows like Superstar, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire
  • Hat Trick Productions – Have I Got News For You, The Kumars and Room 101

Many of these let you sign up to an email list, so that you are notified when tickets become available for new shows.

2. Most shows are recorded in London

London has more TV studios than the rest of the UK so the majority of recordings take place there. This is great if you live near London but a bit of a pain for us Northerners. You will find some in Birmingham, Manchester and Salford from time to time though.

3. The tickets are not for resale (so don’t buy or sell them)

Because the tickets are free, some people try and sell them on sites like eBay for a quick buck. Don’t do this – if the company offering the tickets finds out, you’ll find the tickets cancelled and you may be barred from future recordings. And, if you buy tickets this way, don’t be surprised to find yourself turned away if the tickets were cancelled, leaving you out of pocket.

4. You need to get there early

By early, I mean at least an hour or more before the doors open. This may seem extreme but empty seats in an audience looks bad, so the audience companies offer more tickets than there are seats, to compensate for no-shows. Unfortunately, should everybody turn up, if you’re at the back of the queue you may be turned away if all of the seats are already full.

For this reason, I’d advise against making special trips to places just to be in the audience. It’s happened to me before.

On the plus side, if you do turn up but the recording is already full, generally you will be put on a ‘priority list’ for a future recording.

If you do get in, then be prepared to wait around for some time before the recording starts – so bring something to read if you’re easily bored.

5. If you can’t go, let the audience company know

When you book tickets in advance, there’s always a chance that, nearer the time, something crops up which means you can’t make it. In this case, contact the company that issued the tickets, tell them that you can’t make it and ask them to re-allocate the tickets. Whilst I mentioned earlier that these companies do compensate for no-shows, by surrendering your unused ticket, you may give somebody else on a waiting list a chance to go instead. Plus, it keeps you in good standing with the audience company – if you don’t show up, then they may decide that you’re an unreliable guest and you will be less likely to get tickets in future – especially for the more popular shows.

6. If you attend regular shows, you may get priority tickets

If you build up a good reputation with a particular company, by showing up on time regularly (and surrendering unused tickets), you may be issued with ‘priority tickets’. This means you’ll be let into the studio first and will probably get the best seats, and often allows you to jump the queue. However, it’s still not a guaranteed seat, and generally you will have to turn up even earlier.

7. Don’t expect to be treated like a paying customer

When you pay to attend an event, you will have some expectations, such as comfortable seats and being treated nicely by staff. The opposite applies here – by attending on a free ticket, you are doing the programme makers a favour. You may find that you’re sat on an uncomfortable wooden set, and you will be expected to follow the instructions given to you by staff at the event. In particular, this includes turning off your mobile phone during the recording (in case there’s interference with radio microphones), keeping quiet when you’re told and also laughing or applauding when required. Hopefully the show will be enjoyable, but if you’re at a comedy recording your role is to laugh at the jokes regardless of how funny (or otherwise) they are.

8. To get tickets to the big shows, you may need to go to smaller ones

The bigger sites like Applause Store are contracted to find audiences both for the big, popular shows, and for new, less-exciting-sounding shows. To encourage people to go to these new shows, you may be offered a deal – go to relatively unknown show X, and get priority tickets to big show Y. Whilst this could mean sitting through a rubbish game show to be broadcast during the daytime on a little-watched digital channel, you will be doing the audience company a favour and so they will be more likely to offer you the chance to see the bigger shows.

9. Tickets for the big shows go quickly

And by quickly I mean within hours. A show like Have I Got News For You will fill up all of its audience seats for a whole series in less than a day, so join Hat Trick’s email list to find out what time the tickets go on sale, and then get them as soon as you can.

10. It takes longer to record a show than it does to broadcast

A half hour TV show may take nearly two hours to record – what you see on TV is the edited highlights. Before the recording starts, there is usually a warm-up act, and at the end of the recording, any bits that didn’t tape properly or were missed out will be re-recorded. Live recordings will fill the allotted time, of course, but bearing in mind that most recordings are done in the evening, it’s probably best not to plan to do anything afterwards. Also, make sure you eat something before, or whilst you are queueing, if you would otherwise miss a mealtime or you’re concerned at the prospect of not eating something for three-to-four hours.

Coffee

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“Many consider complexity of circumstances and motives to be precious indulgences that can wait until a better world has been achieved.” ―Albert Murray ☕️
Photo by anokarina, under a Creative Commons License.

When wanting to choose a photo for this post, I found that none of me 2500+ Flickr photos were tagged with ‘coffee’, hence the use of someone else’s photo under license. The reason for this is that I don’t drink coffee.

Or rather, I never used to drink coffee. But now I do. Occasionally.

Until now I’ve been that awkward person who, when asked whether I wanted tea or coffee, wanted something else like water or juice or hot chocolate or anything that wasn’t a hot caffeinated beverage. But as coffee shops have become more and more prevalent I’ve been curious to see if I really do still hate coffee.

In Starbucks, I’d been having their Frappucinos for some time – the non-coffee ones – and on a day when I was feeling particularly tired after an early start I opted for a caramel coffee one, hoping it would perk me up and wouldn’t have the bitterness that I hate about normal coffee (I also don’t like dark chocolate, or bitter ales, incidentally). Thankfully, it didn’t, and so step one of accepting coffee into my life was achieved.

The problem with blended drinks like Frappucinos are that they’re cold drinks. Great in summer, when it’s warm – or some semblance thereof, this is northern England we’re talking about here – but in the cold mid-winter the last thing you want is a thick, ice cold drink when you actually want to warm up. So, again, I decided to experiment – a caramel latte. And, it wasn’t bad.

So far I’ve had a few lattes, although not all of them a success (I won’t name the outlet that gave me a latte that frankly tasted foul, but bleurgh, I had the aftertaste in my mouth for hours afterwards). Next I may push the boat out a little further and try a cappuccino.

For those of you who are hardened coffee drinkers, it may seem bizarre that I’m only now discovering coffee in my late twenties. But sometimes, rather than assuming that just because you didn’t like something 10 years ago, you won’t like it now, it’s worth trying it again.

Lurgified

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Posts here have been a little light of late because both Christine and I have been ill with some kind of bug that isn’t quite ‘flu but stronger than a cold. We both spent most of Tuesday asleep, and although I’ve managed to drag myself to work over the past couple of days I’m still not completely better yet.

In other news:

  • Travelodge saw my post last week and we had a productive chat about my experiences. I have edited the post accordingly, and will therefore withdraw my comments about avoiding them.
  • I updated this site to WordPress 3.3, which went almost flawlessly apart from it not deleting the .maintenance file from the root folder (the existence of this file basically shuts your site down). It’s easily solved though, and I’m liking the update – the new fly-out menus are very welcome and help to declutter the interface. There’s also drag and drop uploading of images, which sounds cool although I’ve yet to try it myself.
  • Now I just need to upgrade the other two blogs on here to 3.3. I’ve considered enabling multi-user mode and just having one install but I’m worried that it’ll be a little too restrictive for my needs.
  • I’ve been experimenting with DNSCrypt, a new tool from OpenDNS which allows you to encrypt your DNS requests in the same way that web pages are encrypted over SSL. It’s a ‘technology preview’ at the moment, with only a Mac client available which is at version 0.7. Unfortunately, when I tried it, it slowed down DNS requests significantly which made pages load more slowly – especially those such as Facebook where images are hosted on cloud servers on different subdomains. The client is also a bit of a pain to uninstall. It’s promising but I’d wait for version 1.0 if I were you.
  • Christine and I have booked tickets to see the mighty Alestorm next year. After seeing Within Temptation last month (who are amazing live – if you like that kind of music, get tickets if you can), and Alestorm next year, I’ll have seen 3 of my 4 favourite bands live. Just need to see Nightwish now, although they haven’t announced any UK dates for their next tour unfortunately.

Movember

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I haven’t blogged about it much but I’ve decided to passively participate in Movember by growing some facial hair. Rather than settle for a simple moustache, I’m instead going for a goatee beard, and have been posting photos on Twitter every 5 days – day 15 being last night.

This is the first time I’ve ever intentionally grown a beard – in the past it’s generally been because I couldn’t be bothered to shave – and is now the longest period I’ve gone without going through the customary removal of facial hair from around my mouth. Christine was consulted on the decision to grow a beard, in case you were wondering.

While there’s still another couple of weeks to go, come December 1st it’s highly likely that the beard will come off. It’s proving to be an interesting experiment but I prefer the clean shaven look; not at least as it makes shaving easier since you can just shave right across your face and not have to avoid certain areas. There’s also the general build-up of crumbs and loose hairs in it, and the fact that the hairs get soggy when you drink.

Also, I’m not doing Movember for charity, but others are – if you know someone who is, chuck a few pennies their way, will you?

Neil and Christine’s Geocaching Adventure

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Geocache

This weekend Christine and I went Geocaching for the first time. It’s something I’d considered doing ever since I got my iPhone, almost a year ago (seriously, it does not feel like a year already…), but I never got around to it. Anyhow, a colleague at work had mentioned some of her friends had got into it, and several of my blogger friends like Andy and Firda do it, so I looked for caches near where we live and found 5 within a one mile radius.

With it being a bank holiday yesterday, it meant we both had the afternoon free, so I bought the iPhone app (which I’ll review tomorrow) and we set off. The first one we found is shown above – it’s a ‘micro’ cache which is the second-smallest size of cache, and is about the size of a matchbox. Inside every geocache is a piece of paper to write your name and the date to log your visit. Finding the cache took a little longer than expected, although the hint for the cache was spot on when we finally worked it out. This was also perhaps our punishment for choosing the nearest cache rather than going a little bit further to one recommended for newbies.

We continued on to find three further caches – the next two being the fiendish ‘nano’ caches which are the smallest, and usually magnetic. In fact, when I first found it I thought it was the magnet to hold the cache onto something, not the cache itself – it wasn’t until I twisted it that it opened to reveal the log inside. The last one for the day, alongside the canal, was inside a 35mm film canister, and required a little scrambling down a bank to get to.

So, four caches down. There are obviously many more to find – after all, if there are four in a small town like ours, then the must be thousands in the UK alone, nevermind overseas. Of course, we’ll now have to go a bit further to look for them but it’s possible to do a spot of geocaching whilst doing other activities. There’s two on campus at work to find during a lunch break and I might have a look for some in Huddersfield as I’m there on Thursday. Still, we may go out specifically to find geocaches – after all, we’ll probably be walking between them so it’s good exercise.

I’m under the impression that smartphones are making geocaching more accessible; in the past, if you wanted to find a geocache you would have needed to buy a GPS receiver, which for those not interested in outdoor pursuits isn’t so useful when not geocaching. Smartphones have brought GPS to the masses, and phones with always-on internet bring dynamic maps and access to the Geocaching community whilst on the go, so there’s no need to plan geocaching trips ahead of time. The Geocaching web site could do with some improvements – it’s a bit cluttered and the design feels rather dated.

Tomorrow, I’ll do an App of the Week review of the Geocaching iPhone app. I may blog again about my Geocaching exploits later on, as and when I find more.

Flat-warmed

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Lloyds TSB

At the weekend we had a flat-warming party, barely 3 months after the last one in the previous flat. Hopefully it’ll be the last one for a while.

Now that spring is here, Sowerby Bridge is lovely – there are plenty of trees and the view across the valley from our balcony is now very lush and green. There’s also a number of ducklings and goslings on the rivers that run through the town.

On Friday night we went to see Uncaged Monkeys in Manchester – it’s roughly equal parts stand-up comedy and science lecture, and was very good. Speakers included Professor Brian Cox (whose wife I met a few years ago), Dr Ben Goldacre, Dr Simon Singh and a few others. It was at the O2 Apollo theatre near the university campus, and was a sell-out – full of several hundred geeks who were happy to spend their Friday night being lectured about the silliness of homoeopathy, our tiny insignificance in the universe and why we’re fortunate that we’re not male anglerfish.

At the university the exams have started, which means that I’ll be invigilating a couple of them. Five years ago, I was the one sitting them, and whilst invigilation isn’t the most interesting of tasks, I’d rather be doing that then having to do the exams again.

This weekend sees us at a friends’ house in Leeds to watch the Eurovision Song Contest. It’s always good fun to watch as a group, especially when there’s some alcohol involved.

Miscellany

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It’s July, which means that we’re now more than half way through 2010. Still feels like April for some reason, despite the very summery weather we’ve had lately.

I haven’t had chance to blog much so this is a summarised version of things that I would have devoted posts to had I had the time.

Films:

  • About a year ago I wrote about films which I own but haven’t watched. I finally watched Robots last night and it was actually better than I had expected. The computer animation is wonderfully detailed and it’s a lot of fun. I’m starting to wish I’d watched it sooner.
  • On a related note, I have copies of Eragon, Ghostbusters II and the first Twilight film which I own but haven’t seen. All in good time, I suppose.
  • I saw the trailer for The Last Airbender a couple of months ago and it looked good, but the reviews of it suggest it’s totally rubbish, so I’ll give it a miss.

Your Freedom:

  • I was intending to write something about the government’s Your Freedom site, which asks the public for ideas about laws that need changing or repealing. It’s a good idea but badly executed, and Chris Applegate sums it up much better than I can, so read his blog post.
  • But, for the record, I’d like to see the Digital Economy Act repealed.

The Internets:

  • Some time in late April our ADSL modem at home started acting up, and ever since it’s been happily dropping packets left, right and centre. It’s a Netgear DG834GT, which isn’t a bad model but it’s several years old and has been rather over-used. The wireless has gone as well, so I’m using my spare Netgear WGR614 as an access point. Anyhow, we’re finally getting a new modem from Sky and so I’ll actually be able to do things like play World of Warcraft without lagging and download files without them timing out.

Holiday:

  • Things will be quiet around here again as Christine and I are off to the Isle of Man for a week, starting tomorrow. We don’t have a solid itinerary but are planning a trip to see the Laxey Wheel and a train ride up Snae Fell.