Brook Street, Chester
Grid reference: SJ408667
Co-ordinates: 340850, 366718
Bearing: NE
As our town and city centres become generalised out of existence, and more and more streets fill up with chain stores, pound stores and bars, it has become so much harder to find places of real character in which to shop, or simply to walk.
The famous Rows notwithstanding, even Chester has been plagued by this, so it's nice to be able to report that - for the time being at least - Brook Street on the northern side of the city centre still manages to contain small, local shops run by small local people.
It can't be easy, though. At one time, Brook Street was connected directly with the rest of the city. When the ring road was extended through this part of town however, Brook Street found itself cut in two and effectively cut off, being reachable from the city centre only by noisome underpasses (although these have now been replaced by conventional crossings at street level).
I've often used Brook Street as a route back to the railway station, especially in order to pay a visit to Grey & Pink Records (about a third of the way down on the left-hand side). I've bought a fair proportion of old vinyl from there down the years.
© Nigel Stapley