Cambridge is so beautiful, it’s hard to say which is the prettiest spot. King’s College Chapel has got to be up there, especially when viewed from the banks of the River Cam. So has the Bridge of Sighs, with its magical glass windows. And who could forget Trinity College Great Court?

There’s one Cambridge sight, though, which fills me with greater admiration than any of these. Like King’s College Chapel, its walls are steep, tall and imposing. Like the Bridge of Sighs, it has a scintillating glass front. Like the Great Court, it has a grand perimeter. I am talking, of course, about the Grafton Centre.

At this point, I anticipate raised eyebrows. I agree that the Grafton is outranked in its objective beauty. Aesthetically, it does not fit in at all with the centre of Cambridge. In fact, there is really nothing notable about it at all, except I quite like the wonky ceiling as you enter from Fitzroy Street. But to me, its sheer and unapologetic normality is what makes it feel so homely. Yes, there is concrete, escalators, and a multi-story car park. That’s all part of the charm.

“Yes, there is concrete, escalators, and a multi-story car park”

I grew up in a nondescript, boring town. An average sized population, an average sized residential sprawl, and a local history museum which comprises two rooms. The majority of the high street is made of chain stores, with the usual exceptions – too many barbers, and a few pubs. There is a large cinema, but no major venues. One thing is absolutely certain: there are no tourists.

With 3,500 freshers having just arrived, I expect a large number of these will also come from relatively unimpressive areas. Perhaps a suburb of some city, likely London. Maybe one of those towns that’s big enough for a decent train station, but too small for most people to know where it is. Some might come from the most boring areas of all, which are apparently Slough, Merthyr Tydfil, and Telford.

By contrast, Cambridge city centre is fantastically out of the ordinary. Everywhere you look, there is pale-coloured stone forming grand buildings. Colleges, chapels, museums, research centres, university departments, and churches decorate the university town. Tourist shops are scattered around; handily, the city centre is full of tourists to buy from them. It is also full of cyclists, whose numbers remain unaffected by the patches of cobblestone or the meanderings of pedestrians. At the top of the main street, called the ‘parade’, you will find three stone statues shelved in the part of (fourteenth century) Gonville and Caius that juts out past Senate House, a neo-classical mansion. Walking around (or cycling) in a gown is not questioned. And the market is busy, which is perhaps the most unusual part of this UK high street.

To make it even more curious, within a five-minute walk, you’re by open fields, known in Cambridge lingo as ‘The Backs’. Behind you is a busy A-road, in the distance are silhouettes of imposing quads and chapels, and you can’t walk on the fields. They’re there nonetheless. If you did want to walk on fields, you could head five minutes south, and join the cows roaming about on the riverside commons. You and the cows would still very much be in central Cambridge.

“the beauty in the Grafton is not in its architecture, but its juxtaposed normality”

For those who come from boring places like me, these idiosyncrasies are all too noticeable. Many will quickly fall in love; but for others, it will take time. That’s important for the freshers, who will be keen to say they feel settled. Personally, I still don’t think of home as a city with huge centuries-old quads, Harry Potter souvenir shops, and packs of cows.

So, the beauty in the Grafton is not in its architecture, but its juxtaposed normality. It’s not filled with students and tourists, but ordinary shoppers going to ordinary shops.

At some point, Cambridge council plans to turn a large part of the Grafton into new laboratories, and renovate the rest. Many of its humble stores will disappear. The people there will change. Even the shops on Fitzroy street are to be updated. Hopefully they will keep the Poundland.

While this new Grafton won’t be like the old, it’s not the end of the world. Juxtaposed normality can be found in other corners of the city. Perhaps by the smaller independent stores on Mill Road, perhaps sitting on a park bench on Jesus’ Green, or perhaps crossing through a more residential area on your way to a supervision. These are the less ‘Cambridgey’ parts of Cambridge. They’re a breath of fresh air. And besides, for now, the Grafton still stands.