Google Street View comes to East Grinstead

TOWN centre shoppers will do a double take when they walk past Woolworths trading in London Road.

Despite having its doors wide open for customers the iconic high street store has only returned to East Grinstead in the virtual world.

Internet giant Google has now launched its much-hyped Street View in the town.

Visitors to the site can see their homes and workplaces at street level, pan 360 degrees, move up and down streets and zoom in or out.

A special camera took to the streets of East Grinstead in the second half of 2008 and captures residents popping to shops and going about their lives, as well as people spotting the camera as it passes them.

Google managed to catch both the Vicarage Street and Chequer Mead car parks full before a price hike which has left them nearly empty over the last year.

It also shows the Aldi site in London Road before work on the building started, the Judges Corner junction during the extensive roundabout roadworks and potholes starting to form on the stretch of Copthorne Road.

Town tourism officer, Simon Kerr said: "What a bonus for people visiting our part of the world. Now they can check out the surroundings see if where they have chosen to stay or visit is easy to spot, and get some advance clues about what to look out for.

"I checked my house and realised it really was time to trim that hedge outside."

Have you spotted anything odd or yourself on Google's Street View? Tell us at www.thisiseastgrinstead.co.uk