Central: Silver Street, Land of Green Ginger, Bowlalley Lane and Whitefriargate (Retail Core)

This area includes the retail street Whitefriargate, Parliament Street, the Land of Green Ginger/Manor Street, leading to Alfred Gelder Street and Bowlalley Land and Silver Street leading to Lowgate.

The focal point of this area is the junction of Whitefriargate, Silver Street. Land of Green Ginger and Trinity House Lane. This is a transitional point both in terms of current and past building uses and also in built character. In Whitefriargate, the single ownership of the southern side by Trinity House means that there is unity in the form and style of the buildings. Whitefriargate is a typical secondary shopping street where all of the ground floor facades and shopfronts have been radically altered, with many upper storeys intact but only partially used and in poor condition.

Parliament Street is a street of uniform Georgian houses currently used as offices. The street was created in the late 18th century to link Whitefriargate to the newly created Queen's Dock.

Princes Dock Street, fronting Princes Quay at the western edge of the THI area, is a street of elegant former merchant's houses, the majority of which are Grade II listed.

In Silver Street, Bowlalley Lane and Land of Green Ginger there is a distinct change in the townscape character. Here the streets are not pedestrianised and the varied frontages of banks, pubs and offices replace the shop frontages of Whitefriargate.

Silver Street is fronted by elegant 3 & 4 storey C19th and early C20th buildings, built as banks, offices and shops, but now mixed use. In contrast Bowlalley Lane is a narrower street with a sense of enclosure and its buildings predominantly offices. Manor Street, linking through to Alfred Gelder Street, has a similar intimate character of small-scale offices and houses dating from the late 18th and 19th Centuries. The curved alignment of Manor Street leading into Land of Green Ginger creates an interesting series of views. Of particular note is the view of the Holy Trinity tower that emerges walking southwards on Manor Street and the emerging view of the triangular building that terminates the vista at the end of Land of Green Ginger before the route curves to lead into Manor Street.

This area, like the Lanes to the east of Lowgate, contains a hidden network of arcades, alleys and courtyards to the rear of the building frontage. These include two alleys off Bowlalley Lane, Exchange Alley, which is poorly utilised and maintained and The Pathway, which is well used by day but containing largely vacant buildings. In contrast there is the Hepworth's Arcade (1904) off Silver Street; a well maintained Edwardian shopping arcade.

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