A short thread about demolishing Stockport's Merseyway shopping centre - something that pretty much everyone thinks would be great if it were possible, and inspired by this neat imagining from @GroundworkGM. Here's why Stockport covered up its river and what we can do about it.
Before the Merseyway Shopping Centre was build, Stockport had constructed a nice big road over the Mersey. Why? At the time (1930s) the Mersey was heavily polluted and ran down the backs of factories and warehouses. The road was widely seen as an improvement. 
Merseyway Shopping Centre was one of the first of its kind in the country - cutting edge, and replacing a busy dual-carriageway road with a popular pedestrianised mall
Mersey Square, which bridges the Mersey just outside the shopping centre, was also closed to most traffic during this period.
So why not just open up the Mersey? The Council did a small section a few years back and it's worth taking a look. First issue: the Mersey is a long way down. That's great to stop flooding, not so great for lounging on the riverbank.
How far down? I went under Merseyway in 2013 and here's a photo I took. The windows on the left are just below street-level. Look to the right to see how much further down the Mersey is in normal times.
Then there's money. The mersey flows under some of the buildings as well as the walkway, so to uncover it you'd need to remove, or at least do major structural work, on some big buildings. I've very roughly marked the exposed Mersey and the mall walkway here.
But I have some good news! After decades of under-investment by private owners, the Council bought Merseyway a few years ago. It's much easier to demolish your own house than to demolish someone else's.
Sadly, some of the buildings that people think of as part of Merseyway are not, and are still privately-owned. That includes Primark and several others.
So how might we uncover the Mersey? It would be a huge and expensive engineering project, but it's doable. The larger shops could be turned around and accessed from Prince's Street or Chestergate. Smaller shops relocated to those roads or the Underbanks.
That would reduce the amount of retail space in the town (which is needed) and create the opportunity to build riverside apartments and offices, plus potentially opening up the river to more leisure uses.
But remember that the river is still going to be a long way down!
Is it possible financially? It would be a massive ask in a thriving city centre with high property values. Stockport is doing fine but it isn't London. There are a huge number of landlords to co-ordinate, businesses to re-home, technical engineering issues to resolve etc.
So, in conclusion, if I had a pound for everyone who'd suggested to me that we should open up the Mersey I'd be a rich man. And it is possible, but the piece of the jigsaw that's always been missing is a way to pay for it. Anyone with £100m going spare, please let me know!
Clarification: A few tweets back I said "That would reduce the amount of retail space in the town (which is needed)". To avoid any confusion, it is the reduction that's needed, not the retail space. Stockport's retail area is almost certainly too large right now.
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