Today
Today North Laine is a bohemian shopping area popular both with locals and tourists, well served with cafés, bars and entertainment venues including theatres such as Komedia, which is in a former Tesco supermarket. The latter had been closed for some years in anticipation of major redevelopment of the area which failed to materialise; in the building was for some time a covered market with a number of small stallholders, until Komedia moved in from their previous home in Kemptown. The first branch of Anita Roddick's Body Shop, later to become a multinational business, was opened at 22 Kensington Gardens. Typical retailers include art, antiques, architectural salvage, second-hand books, music, "retro" clothing, graphic novels, musical instruments and new age paraphernalia. There is a high turnover of boutique-style shops in North Laine in general.
One of the less shopping-oriented streets, Upper Gardner Street, is closed to traffic every Saturday for an on-street market. Amongst the houses of this street are several antiques dealers.
The City Council redeveloped a gap site, constructing a new library and public square which became available to the public in 2005. This significantly changed the flow of pedestrians, which prior to this had been predominantly straight through North Laine on the main shopping streets, and is now more two-dimensional.
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