I do not approve of the changes at the Morley Galleria.
OK, there are a few things that are good. The new entrance to the central rotunda is excellent, and the walkway linking it to the bus station is something that’s been needed since they moved the drainage basin – although it would be nice to put a roof on it for the eight months a year when it’s either blazing hot or pouring down with rain. But what they’ve done upstairs is just awful. All the wide, open space of the food court has been boxed in and turned into retail space, leaving just a narrow walkway around the rotunda. The east wing of the food court that led to the external verandah is now a JB Hi-Fi store – I haven’t checked the outside but I’ll be very surprised if the verandah and staircases are even there any more.
It’s undoubtedly weird to get upset about renovations to a shopping mall, but I’ve been patronising the Galleria since it opened in the mid 90’s. I saw countless movies there. I spent way too much time in my teens hanging out with my friends in the food court. The Galleria is – for better of worse – part of the furniture of my mind, and seeing what they’ve done to it is like looking at the mutilated face of an old friend.
Buy hey, I’ll get over it.
Eventually.
Bah!