Apple Stores are no stranger to London City,with the Covent Garden and Regent Street stores already serving the area, but no town can have too many Apple Stores, which is why the proposed Apple Store development at 100 Cheapside would be such a boon for the area.
The only problem? It might not happen, and the reason might surprise you: neighbors claim it would block out too much sun.
According to ifoAppleStore:
…the project is currently in limbo on two fronts—first, the land is owned by the city of London, which is still looking for a buyer after one bidder dropper out. Second, plans for the building are being challenged by 13 neighbors, who say they were not consulted about the proposed building’s height and bulk, and how it will block their sunlight. The neighbors’ challenge is part of a nationwide effort to set a legal precedent on whether neighbors to a proposed project have a right in law to sunlight, or whether planning officials can approve buildings that reduce sight-lines to the sun. Because of these uncertainties, it’s not clear when the building will be finished or when the store might open.
The 100 Cheapside Apple Store: good for vampires and albinos, bad for neighbors.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
25 responses to “Apple’s New London Retail Store Would Be A Great Place For Vampires, Not So Great For Londoners”
I thought vampires were afraid of sunlight? Oh, I don’t understand this Twilight nonsense.
That’s the point! If the store is blocking all the sunlight, the vampires will be happy lol.
Err… it’s not London City. Cheapside is in the “City of London”
ONE Apple Store, ah, ah, ah, ahhhh. TWO Apple Stores, ah, ah, ah, ahhh. THREE Apple Stores, ah ah ah ahhh.Â
I thought London didn’t get much sunlight.
lol. Disregard sunlight, acquire Apple products.
Architecture hasn’t been kind to the City of London (the territory within the old Roman walls – it’s mostly a financial hub now, hence in London is just referred to as ‘The City’. Another clad postmodern building to make you forget it even was the site of an ancient city. It’ll fit right in.
Incidentally Covent Garden and Regent Street aren’t in the ‘City’, more the ‘West End’ – plain old London.
CG and Regent Street are in Westminster, which is the true Central London, geographically, politically, and spiritually.
This building is stupid. Â It’s too big, Â Not just for the neighborhood, but for the market. Â Cheapside is a 9-5 area (well, 9-6 in London). Â Unless there’s been a drastic change in the last year or two, this area is a relative ghost town after 6PM, and it’s empty on weekends. Â They’d be much better being the anchor for the (yet to be) revitalised Elephant & Castle or in Earls Court. Â This could just be another “glamour” store, meant to burnish their image instead of making a real profit. Â But even at that, it makes no sense to stick this in the middle of the business district when you just abandoned your singular enterprise product (Xserve) a few months ago.
Maybe it’s a strawman to keep Apple Stores in the spotlight until they actually find a good location.
I don’t like the design,it looks to similar to the buildings around, I like the glass Apple stores they stand out..
The design just looks ridiculous, not in a good way.
Exactly. They need all the sunlight they can get.
Blocking sunlight. In London? Really?