Am I the only person who is tired of hearing about the Golden Triangle in Norwich?
I'm about to move to a house not far away from the GT (ie just the wrong (right) side of Earlham Road).
While searching for a place, it was amazing how many sets of property details boasted of a "Golden Triangle location", as if it's still a selling point.
Some were stretching the boundaries of Utopia, in a bid to sneak other streets under its Cath Kidston umbrella.
But why? What is the allure of the Golden Triangle? In modern parlance, what even is it?
Here's the definition from Stevipedia:
THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE (NORWICH)
The Golden Triangle is a name invented by estate agents in the 1980s to trigger inflated rents and house prices in an area that is described as "exclusive" and "Bohemian" by residents - but "meh" and "so-so" by many others. It features nice Victorian terraced houses, nice shops, nice cafes, nice pubs, nice people and nice schools. Behind the nice facade, though, it is believed to be the region's hotspot for secret Prosecco addiction.
It's sometimes called the "Norwich version of London's Notting Hill", apparently. Is that meant to make me aspirational or angry?
In truth, it's a watered-down case of The Emperor's New Clothes.
It has been given a special name and a certain mystique has subsequently built up around it - if it's called the Golden Triangle, it must be glittering, we assume.
But, while not butt-naked like the Emperor, it's certainly more dressing gown than ballgown.
It used to contain many of Norwich's best pubs. But many other areas are at least on a par nowadays.
Where I currently live, in NR3, there are countless superb pubs, including the Artichoke, the Plasterers Arms, the Leopard, the Lord Rosebery, the Whalebone, The Fat Cat Brewery Tap and many more.
It's a great place to live - and considerable more affordable than the Golden Triangle.
I suppose I ought to try to draw the boundaries of the Golden Triangle.
Think of it initially as a wedge-shaped area in the south western suburbs of Norwich. The base of the Triangle is the Colman Road stretch of the outer ring road.
GT Version One is bordered by Colman Road, Earlham Road and Unthank Road: a lazy-looking isosceles triangle - like the top of a wizard's hat.
But many people stretch it beyond Unthank Road and towards Newmarket Road, meaning it is no longer a triangle: it becomes the Golden Trapezium or the Golden Kite.
Meanwhile, others want to drag in the streets between Earlham Road and Dereham Road. Cheeky.
So its shape is one very good reason to stop calling it the Golden Triangle. Another is that it's not even THE Golden Triangle: there are loads of them lurking across the globe, including:
? The area where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet at the confluence of the Ruak and Mekong rivers.
? The three cities of Budapest, Vienna and Prague
? India's tourist circuit, which connects the national capital Delhi, Agra and Jaipur
? An area of affluent towns and villages in Cheshire. The points of the triangle are Wilmslow, Alderley Edge and Prestbury
? An area of Southeast Texas between the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange.
But the main reason to drop this silly moniker is that it introduces divisiveness into Norwich. It excludes some people, while encouraging elitism and snobbery in others.
Some people who live there, look down on those who don't. Meanwhile, inverted snobs like me do the opposite.
Golden Triangle? Let's just drop it.
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