What was lost?

The redevelopment of Luton town centre in the 1970's saw many changes, not only to the building of newer buildings but also to the street layout. Included below are two maps which illustrate the large changes in the town centre and show just how many streets and buildings disappeared in the redevelopment. The first of these maps is of Luton town centre in 1888, approximately 90 years before the construction of the Arndale Centre (currently known as The Mall Luton).

You can clearly see the route of the River Lea, marked by the black line originating from near the top left of the map before drifting out to approximately half way down along the right hand side.

Luton Town Centre 1888 - the red dot signifies a spot just outside the town hall.

The same map is again shown below but this time shows approximately the current location of Arndale/The Mall shopping centre. What is instantly noticeable is the large area of town centre which was destroyed as a result of the development. 

Luton Town Centre 1888 showing the approximate current location of the Arndale / The Mall in red and St Georges' Square in Blue.

I believe there are several reasons for the decline in Luton town centre over the years. In my opinion, the construction of the indoor shopping centre in the town centre deserves to shoulder a large portion of the responsibility. This belief will be explored later in this blog with a greater explanation as to why I deem this to be the case. I also hope to add additional photos to document these changes within Luton Town Centre, past and present.


I have also added a copy of the Google map of Luton from 2010 for comparison's sake as it includes a fairly accurate representation of the size of the Arndale / The Mall shopping centre.

Google Maps, Luton 2010