Rue Neuve (Brussels)

Coordinates: 50°51′11″N 4°21′23″E / 50.853175°N 4.356433°E / 50.853175; 4.356433

Rue Neuve

Rue Neuve (French) or Nieuwstraat (Dutch) is a pedestrian street in Brussels' city center. It is the second most popular shopping area in Belgium by number of shoppers, after Meir in Antwerp.[1] It runs between Place de la Monnaie in the south and Place Charles Rogier in the north.

The street used to be called rue Notre-Dame/Onze-Lieve-Vrouwstraat, after the Church of Our Lady of Finistere, which is now in the middle of the retail district. It has been a centre of commercial activity since at least the end of 19th century, and was known as a centre of luxury shopping early twentieth century. The street was pedestrianised in 1975.[2]

Rue Neuve has the second highest rents of any street in Belgium, at €1,600/square metre/year. Meir in Antwerp ranks first, with 1,700 €/square metre/year.[3] However, it has been criticised by some for being to "boring" architecturally, "uniformly 'mass market’" and lacking in independent retailers, and without variety of uses, for example with very few residents.[2] The city of Brussels has plans to bring more residents to the street and to make it more "attractive." [4]

References

  1. ↑ Meir klopt voor het eerst Nieuwstraat als drukste winkelstraat 10 Mar, 2010
  2. 1 2 Mikolajczak, Charlotte (9 November 2013). "La rue Neuve leur appartient" (in French). La Libre. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  3. ↑ High streets – the rental hit parade 10 Mar, 2010
  4. ↑ "Du solide pour une rue Neuve habitée !" (PDF). ARAU.org. Atelier De Recherche Et D'action Urbaines. Retrieved 4 June 2016.


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