# Tricorn Center Portsmouth



## worldoftheshadows (Dec 6, 2008)

The Tricorn Center was a 60's shopping center/market/carpark/flats/nightclub Designed by Rodney Gorden and the Owen Ludor Partnership who also designed the gateshead multistorey carpark.

I give no apolagies for the lack of quality in the photos, they were shot on a assortment of cheap cameras!.







Artists impression from the original Brochure





"Restaurant in the sky"





Ground Level Plaza





Wholesale Market Level of multi-storey





Upper Levels of multi-storey carpark





Graffiti 





View from the roof of the next door shopping arcade





One of the two spiral entrance ramps and the multi-storey carpark​


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## Foxylady (Dec 6, 2008)

60's buildings always look good in the artist's impressions, don't they...big difference to the actuality, though!  Interesting stuff, WOTS. Cheers.


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## Urban Mole (Dec 6, 2008)

Wernt they supposed to be demolishing this place, or was it saved?

Im sorry to say but Im one of the minority that thinks this should be demo'd, I hate it 

Any other finds around there Dave?


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## and7barton (Dec 6, 2008)

It WAS demolished......the whole lot has gone.
Most people were glad to see the monstrosity get erased.......but strangely there was a protest group who wanted it preserved !


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## infromthestorm (Dec 6, 2008)

Similar to the "Crescents" in Hulme,Manchester,long gone & good riddance


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## thompski (Dec 6, 2008)

Can't help but think how the current wave of the development will look in 40 years time, I recently (well last night) looked at some of the plans for 1960s Derby and it is quite similar to what is planned today - except more car friendly and more anti-Victorian sentiments back then


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## randomnut (Dec 6, 2008)

Cheers for posting these! It's a real shame this place is now gone, and turned into a crappy car park. This place was the original place to get me into Urbex before I even realised that Urbex even existed.

Such great memories of this place, it even had the largest laser quest arena in europe. Shame it was designed with small narrow alleyways which made it a no-go area after dusk. They put a nightclub in the top next to the car park which pretty much nobody went to because of it's obscenely awkward location, and had 6 or 7 flats that were never lived in. I remember seeing the inside of these when they tore the outside wall off during demolition, it was like looking into a time machine directly back to 1965.

Did you manage to get any interior shots of any of the shops/laser quest/nightclub etc? I'll see if I can find any of mine, buried in photo album somewhere.


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## Richard Davies (Dec 6, 2008)

Great photos, looking for info on the Tricorn got me interested in urbexing.

When talking here about closed floors of shops, someone mentioned that the unit at the Tricorn intended for Marks & Spencer only had the ground floor used, & the rest of the floors still had in-situ1960s fittings until it was pulled down.


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## randomnut (Dec 6, 2008)

Yeah apparently the upper floors in what was supposed to be marks and sparks was used as storage for laser quest or something like that?

I'd be really keen to see any internal shots of the Tricorn that are knocking about


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## Urban Mole (Dec 7, 2008)

Found this large collection on Google if anyones interested.
Its not mine, Im not plugging it, just thought it would be of interest.

http://www.garfnet.org.uk/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=168

Looks better in the pics on the above link, but glad its gone tho.


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## MD (Dec 7, 2008)

it was an ugly building but i found it interesting if you get my drift


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## cogito (Dec 9, 2008)

I moved to Portsmouth about 6 months before they demolished this, if I was into urbex at the time I'd have given it a right going over before it met it's fate.


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## worldoftheshadows (Dec 11, 2008)

Richard Davies said:


> Great photos, looking for info on the Tricorn got me interested in urbexing.
> 
> When talking here about closed floors of shops, someone mentioned that the unit at the Tricorn intended for Marks & Spencer only had the ground floor used, & the rest of the floors still had in-situ1960s fittings until it was pulled down.



There were six floors in the department store block, the ground floor ended up as a spend&save, whilst part of the top two floors (originally intended as a coffee shop overlooking the main floor of the department store) was used by the lazerquest the other floors were used for storage by the spend&save, I'll dig some photos out - there were escalators that had never been used with gold aluminium trim and the protective film still on from the day they were fitted and all the staircases were alloy with tinted glass panels - pretty hideous really!. 

Dave


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## randomnut (Dec 11, 2008)

Haha yeah that does sound pretty awful. Would be definitely be keen to see any and all interior shots you have  What other parts did you manage to get into? Were you able to see the nightclub/flats/other places in there? When I visited a lot of it was pretty heavily sealed


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## Richard Davies (Dec 11, 2008)

I understand there was a pub in the Tricorn when it opened. 

I found an anicdote from the first landlord's sun that the main bar was in a 20 foot high room with a concrete ceiling, this amplified any little noise so much that it to be closed until a false ceiling 8 feet high was up in to sort out the acustics.


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## Trinpaul (Dec 14, 2008)

I never really liked the Tricorn. I spent nearly every summer of my school holidays outside Waterlooville and we'd come down to Commercial Rd once a week. The only store I'd go into by the Tricorn was Virgin music. The old rail line at the back that went into the dockyard, now that would be an interesting look-about.


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## Wolfracer (Dec 16, 2008)

I remember this place from when I lived in Fareham as a kid and my Mum and Dad used to park there when shopping in Portsmouth......
Wasn't it voted the ugliest building in Britain at one point?


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## Simon (Dec 16, 2008)

A pity it missed the urbex revolution. I became fascinated with the Tricorn, but long after it'd been demolished. An amazing icon to the Brutalism movement, hideously ugly and (in parts) completely unfit for purpose. 

Thanks for posting the pictures.

All the best,
Simon


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## lanny (Dec 16, 2008)

I actually think its a shame that buildings like this are being taken down in such a rush . Its not dissimilar to the destruction of victorian buildings in the 1960's. At that point buildings like the tricorn or my personal favorite the old bullring in birmingham were being built to try and bring unity to areas of town and city centres , the point being these buildings do have historical merit just as much as an old cinema, swimming pool or whatever like cinemas and pools they are difficult to put back in to practical usage but should be valued for the merits of the design in its period context. 
The residents of Workington are now experiencing redevelopment of the town centre for the second time and in twenty or thirty years will be in exactly the same position as they were in before with another ill concieved empty development so how is that any better ?

By the way if anyone fancies a look at a real 60's horror try the shopping centre in skelmersdale lancashire its a true joy !


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## the-middle-1 (Jan 8, 2009)

I used to walk throught this place on my way to school, i still remember it always had a gloomy feel to it even on sunny. a friend and i always say how good it would have been to go in and document it but now the chance has passed. grate pictures thoe.


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## graybags (Jan 8, 2009)

*Tric*

Memories

There was an excellent Chinese here in the early days

I used to come out of Unicorn gate in the dockyard and cross the road and there it was : an eyesore

G


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## Ubermutant (Jan 10, 2009)

Wow anything Tricorn related is great (its how I stumbled upon this site) and any new pictures are great, most websites seem to have the same 5 views and thats all.

I'd love to see any more pictures you have, plus do you have a copy of that original flyer or is it a scan you found somewhere? I have been looking for original material for some time, and apart from a few bits a pieces in Portsmouth Library nothing much has turned up. You'd think a building like the Tricorn would have more written about it.


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