LOCAL newspaper archives tend to chronicle many alternate futures.

This image from the Adver’s files originally appeared 17 years ago.

Westfield, the company which owned the Brunel Centre, drew up a plan for an ambitious expansion which would have seen the grow along Regent Street and cover much of the Havelock Street area to the rear.

The artist’s impression shows the Pilgrim Centre in the distance and a glimpse of the Town Hall beyond, suggesting the main new building would be roughly opposite the Robert Dyas shop.

In 2005 Westfield sold the Brunel Centre to another firm, Capital and Investment Trust, and the expansion proposal was dropped.