The Leicester buildings that took over 16 years to build (and, in fact, still aren't finished today!)

 There are some things in the UK that seem exceedingly peculiar. Bizarre, even. The unfinished Pipi Brothers Buildings is one of them.

The Pipi Brothers Buildings are situated at the eastern end of Cooper Street in Belgrave, Leicester, on Belgrave Road, also known as the Golden Mile for its large range of Indian shops and jewellers in particular. The peculiar thing is that they are still unfinished after more than sixteen years!

Planning history indicates that the first proposal for the buildings occurred in 1995, which was to build a two-storey and three-storey printworks. Permission was renewed in 2001, and construction probably started after this, as construction works are visible in Google Earth satellite imagery in 2006.

In 2007 and 2008, the plans were revised, with the buildings now becoming up to four storeys tall. After this, construction went on at a snail's pace. In 2017, a further planning application resulted in the proposed use of the new buildings being changed from a printworks to shops on the ground floor and flats above.

A lot of buildings that size would be completed in six months or a year. It is now 2022 and although one of the buildings looks almost externally complete, the other one looks even less complete. After over sixteen years.

Images taken March 2022.