Fifty years ago a large slice of old Brighton was demolished to make way for a new shopping centre.

Ancient cottages, several pubs, a disused church and a brewery were among the casualties of Churchill Square.

At one time the Grand Hotel was also scheduled for demolition but fortunately it was saved after a public inquiry.

Brighton Council was keen to have a modern shopping centre and chose the site after advice by Sir Hugh Casson, one of the leading architects of the day.

The idea was to have the centre cascading from Western Road to the seafront with sumptuous views from each level but somehow it never worked out that way.

When the centre opened in 1968 the design was a disappointment. There were no sea views and the back of Churchill Square was a concrete cul de sac.

A sad looking sculpture called The Spirit of Brighton symbolised all that was wrong with the centre. It was unloved and largely unnoticed.

Churchill Square was also one of the last open-air shopping centres to be built in Britain and it dated quickly. The Arndale Centre in Eastbourne built only a few years later, was indoors and was much more welcoming.

As time went by, Brighton began to lament the loss of the little streets that had been obliterated by the new shops. Had they survived they would probably have been prized for their atmosphere and revived in the way North Laine was only a few hundred yards away.

All the same Churchill Square attracted some of the big name shops such as British Home Stores and W H Smith which are still there today.

Three food supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and the Co Op, opened stores towards the back of the Square and at one stage almost every unit was taken.

Attempts were made to link the Square to the seafront but all that could be managed was a footbridge leading into the Brighton Centre.

Plans for a second residential tower block to match Chartwell Court were abandoned. It would have been near the foot of West Street.

The shopping centre began to lose trade in the 1980s and the food stores all disappeared to find bigger sites in the suburbs.

Brighton Council, led by Steve Bassam, was bold. It sold its land holding to Standard Life which already owned some of the property.

This encouraged the developers to knock down the Square and replace it with a modern mall, a move which also required commercial courage at a time when out-of-town superstores were booming.

Not everyone liked the new Churchill Square which was conventional in design. But it was a shopping success from the day it opened nearly 18 years ago.

Standard Life also ensured that the fittings were of high quality so that the shopping centre has stood up well to the millions of people who go there every year,

There are plans once again to link it to the seafront and add more shops. Co-operation and imagination will be needed to make it work but the success of the current mall shows what could be achieved.