There are some nice shops in the drake circus area of north Hill. There is for example a particularly nice jewellery shop as well as a range of eating and ale houses. At night time it livens up to a flurry of student drinking activity.
Street cafe in the Parisian style Drake Circus area
Part of the new mall as at November 2007 which is screened off by the Purple Berlin Wall.
Drake Circus has rapidly become 
the university quarter of the city, with an amazing development of a new arts centre housed in the Robin Levinsky building. As you can see from the image, the building features some spectacular lines in design. You can stroll through the historic drake circus which includes the museum, art gallery and a plethora of bars and cafes. It is also home to some of Plymouths' more interesting shops.
The Drake Circus area includes some of the largest and most impressive buildings in the South-West. The new Penisula Medical school and the Arts centre are but two of those buidlings. At night time Drake Circus really comes alive with a plethora of bars, cafes, pubs and clubs all providing entertainment to the stunning backdrop of its many fine buildings.
Not to be confused with the nearby mall, the small shopping area centered around a row of Edwardian buildings, is busy with both students and tourists viewing the exhibits in the prestigious Art Gallery and Museum.
Drake Circus many years ago use to have as its southern most boundary an oval traffic island but this was incorporated into the mall area. The original mall developed concrete cancer (alkaline-silicone reaction in concrete) as a result of which the whole area was contemporarily purchased by the Plymouth City Council and subsequently developed into the mall that now stands. The new southernmost boundary of Drake Circus is marked by a 400 metre long purple fence erected by the developers of the mall, which some say is an attempt to screen off the competing shopping and cafe heartland of Drake Circus. The Roundabout Public House lies to the furthermost South Western Border of Drake Circus whilst the old Money-Centre building lies to its furthermost South-Eastern boundary. The Mall named itself Drake Circus however its trademark is 'drakecircus'. Nowadays Drake Circus remains an area to the north of the mall and its size is often associated with the University campus.
The image on the left shows the bustling centre of Drake Circus with the medical school on the right and the Arts centre in background. On the left is one of its many fine Edwardian buildings that escaped the blitz. How it originally got its name is open to debate. Some say from the old pre-war Drake Street which ran parallel to North Hill and in the late 18th century was the venue for the then popular traveling circuses. Others say the term 'circus' was applied to the circular shape of its blocks of buildings.
The purple fence that acts like a Berlin Wall between the shopping mall and Drake Circus. The waste land behind it is said will be developed eventually. A popular covered shopping mall in Plymouth is the Armada Shopping centre in Armada Way which contains an interesting mix of multi-national and local retailers.
