February 2026

Not much to look at really, and apparently it’s gone now – but this was the Hub Arcade, next to the back of the Royal Arcade, built 1965, no architect known. It had a tiled facade (not a very nice colour though), a nice mix of materials inside, and it was a quirky little place altogether, with access to the Royal but via some stairs. Quists had a cafe branch in there for ages.

It’s being transformed with a new facade of very deep brick arches, looks nice, and I guess the depth is basically filling in the existing setback space. But an odd choice, since the arched floor is to be a big bar/food venue. So is the roof, with nice views of some great old buildings opposite. In 2021 this site was going to be a 10 floor hotel, not terrible, but keeping it low scale is better.

I remember back in the 80s/90s the Hub had lots of neon, I think a sign with an arrow, plus the underside of the canopy was all white neons, possibly angling around pointing inwards. From colourful modernist to traditional brick, interesting. Architects @aoachristopherpeck.

Pics 3,4 from Facebook, by Stephen McLaughlan, others the internet, real estate, streetview, the applications.

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