FEW will shed tears when and if Southampton’s boarded up Bargate Centre is demolished.

The once state-of-the-art shopping centre has been closed for some time, its appearance an eyesore at what should be the heart of the city centre.

Adjacent to the historic Bargate itself, what should be a prime site hard against the city walls is a blot on the landscape.

News that there are plans to demolish the centre to make way for an attractive open plan development that will expose those medieval walls again is welcome.

As this paper reports, however, all is not plain sailing with a price to be agreed between the new American owners and European developers who wish to take it off their hands.

We must hope initially that the sale goes through before interest in the development dissolves.

Remembering how the hopes of a thriving centre paled as the years passed for the present development we must also hope any new plans are more enduring.