A minor theme of Secret Tunnels of England is the long-forgotten shopping street or arcade lost beneath subsequent redevelopment. One example that is not in the book is in Keighley, West Yorkshire. Closed around 1890, Keighley's Royal Arcade was built over it in 1901. It was rediscovered in 2003 by builders working in the cellars of shops above and has been in the news recently as it was hoped to turn the atmospheric subterranean thoroughfare into a 'vintage' shopping experience. See the articles here and here. Another can be found in Southport and there is rumoured to be one beneath central Manchester. Of course the most famous example is the supposed 'perfectly preserved' Victorian street beneath Selfridges publicised by Malcolm Mclaren that I've written about in an earlier (and my most viewed) blog entry.
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