Large shopping centre. The present centre was refurbished 2006 but the northern part of the building dates to the late 1960s when much of the western side of French Gate was demolished in order to make way for the original 'Arndale Centre'. This centre was renamed in the later 1980s as the 'Frenchgate Centre'. French Gate was originally made up of thin narrow plots, part of a plan form unit with burgage plots of common lengths and widths now almost entirely lost above ground on both sides of French Gate. Slater's analysis of the plan form of the post-medieval town considered this area likely to have been laid out as a consistent instance of town planning, probably following the Norman Conquest (in Buckland et al 1989, 54) - a hypothesis largely based on the place-name 'French Gate'. This area was originally constrained by a medieval ditch -the 'Bar Dike', which with the Cheswold river completely enclosed the core of the medieval Market town. The line of this ditch continues to be represented for much of its length by the course of Printing Office Street and Silver Street / Market Road, however 1970s additions to the Frenchgate Centre overbuilt its course. The south western boundary of this unit marks its former course.