Gor blimey, Guv! It seems a little bit of Albert Square may have turned up in our own fair city, writes Stephen Deal.

Merrivale Square, built as part of a major housing development off Walton Well Road, Oxford, bears an uncanny resemblance with the only piece of green space viewers ever get to see on EastEnders.

The area is fenced off by railings similar to those seen on the BBC soap and, like Albert Square, it is also surrounded by roads.

Visitors to it could be forgiven for thinking they are likely to bump into bad-tempered Grant or stressed-out Pauline. But, if they want a drink in the Queen Vic, forget it. No pubs have been built as part of the Berkeley Homes development and residents are quite keen for it to stay that way.

And the housing outside the square also looks in considerably better condition than the homes of the Fowlers and Beales.

In fact, it seems very few people in Merrivale Square take much notice of EastEnders at all.

Sue Arbuthnot, who takes her 20-month-old daughter Rosie into the square, said: "We think it is a lovely area. It is used as a community focal point in the same way I understand they use the square in EastEnders - although I never watch it. In fact, far from being modelled on the EastEnders' set, the square has been designed to resemble an area much closer to home.

Lesley Burt said: "It is modelled on Victorian squares in Park Town, off Banbury Road. I think it resembles that area far more than it does anything in EastEnders."

Although the similarities would seem to end outside the square, the nearest pub, in Walton Street, is ironically called ... The Victoria.

Story date: Wednesday 12 May

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.