As far as I know St Albans has a population of at least 14,000 people, but as an English country town, indeed, Heart of England (St Albans still has more pubs per person than anywhere else) it doesn't have a butchers shop. It might have Costco (and the rest). It may boast more cars per person than anywhere else, but if you walk around the centre of St Albans, nomatter how much your image of England depends on the fierce resistance of Captain Mainwaring and Lance Corporal Jones, that glint in the eye of English independence; there is no place to buy a sausage in the actual town centre.
In fact, on my last visit, the line that came to mind to more accurately describe the youth of St Albans was:
'Mortally offended snowflakes stare in to their selfie lattes dreaming of cockerpoos'.
And I came up with a lot worse when it came to the guys in the pubs, and their wives with their induction hobs.
So thinking architecturally, if you want to see where (to paraphrase Venturi Scott Brown Izenour) main street has gone all wrong, it's St Albans for you.
And if you thought (from my previous post) that I am at all positive about late capitalist development, think again.
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