Rue Neuve, Brussels

Rue Neuve (French) or Nieuwstraat (Dutch), meaning "New Street", is a pedestrian street in Brussels' city centre. It runs between the Place de la Monnaie/Muntplein to the south and Charles Rogier Square to the north. Rue Neuve and its close surroundings are the second most popular shopping area in Belgium by number of shoppers, after Meir in Antwerp. It is served by the metro and "premetro" stations De Brouckère and Rogier.
History.
The street used to be called /, after the Church of Our Lady of Finistere, which is now in the middle of the retail district. It has been a centre of commercial activity since at least the end of the 19th century, and was known as a centre of luxury shopping early 20th century. The street was pedestrianised in 1975.
Nowadays, Rue Neuve has the second highest rents of any street in Belgium, at €1,600/square metre/year (the Meir shopping street in Antwerp ranks first, with 1,700 €/square metre/year). However, it has been criticised by some for being to "boring" architecturally, "uniformly 'mass market'" and lacking in independent retailers, and without variety of uses, for example with very few residents. The City of Brussels has plans to bring more residents to the street and to make it more "attractive".