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Original poster

help please - has anything like this happened in your town/ city?

46 replies

Cappucino · 06/08/2006 19:31

There is at present a plan for a massive new shopping centre with Debenhams, Gap, all kinds of high street wonderment, to be built next to the town centre. It would increase the retail area of the town by about a half again.

We have quite a medium sized town centre with a mix of high street and independent shops, all quite small sized

I wondered if anyone had any experience of new shopping centres/ developments being built in their town or city and could tell me their experience ie whether it was a big boost to the town or whether it just shifted the focus of the town centre to another area at the expense of the existing centre

There is a campaign to oppose it but I don't want to jump in with a kneejerk reaction if this is something that will be a Good Thing

anyone?

OP posts:
Original poster
Cappucino · 06/08/2006 21:10

oh I'm off to put this on style

at least people shop there

OP posts:
ocd · 06/08/2006 21:11

woooooooooooooooooo

gte you stroppy cafe!
arf
n not heere

southeastastra · 06/08/2006 21:12

we had a sort of smaller shopping centre built and people do all congregate there. the high street is really awful now (though it wasn't great to start with)

Beauregard · 06/08/2006 21:13

we had a new development built in our town and ever since the high street has died it seems like every other shop has closed .

hulababy · 06/08/2006 21:17

I now live in Sheffield and before that (as a child) lived in nearby town. I remember the uproar when Meadowhall - large shopping centre - was built on the outskirts of Sheffield. Have to say it did destroy the town centre for a few years, and it is only really in the last 5 years the city has started to recover.

However now couldn't imagine Meadowhall not being there. Prefer to shop in the city if I can, but on a cold wet day Meadowhall wins every time, and at present it still has more of the big name shops than the city has.

MerlinsBeard · 06/08/2006 21:20

i live in South manchester and city centre there has lots of big name shops. When the trafford centre was built on the outskirts of the town it didn't really affect city centre too much. there are the same shops and manchester was in the middle of a regeneration at the time anyway so has hit back with harvey nicks.

Stockport (smaller town bit further away) is noticably quieter now that the transport links have been improved to trafford but tbh it was going downhill anyway

misdee · 06/08/2006 21:20

where i live, the hopward centre (mini shopping mall compared to say, the harlequin in watford) has been a boost to the town centre. however, the next town over, in hatfield, since the galleria was built a short walk away , and then Asda in the town centre was rebuilt, it has destroyed the town.

Skribble · 06/08/2006 21:21

We have just had a new centre built at one end of the towns main shopping streets, it included a debenhams, next and othere shops.

It has left the other end of the town struggling, helped by the fact that woolworths which was the second last shop has moved up to the middle of the street where littlewoods had been a while back. Next left their old shop which was nearer to that end too to open up in the new centre.

On the other hand we have had a few new names move in which I think is partly due to the new centre. Such as Monsoon and Accessorise. Sadly though a lot of empty shops are filled by pound shops and charity shops. (I do love Pounland mindyou and charity shops too .

The new centre has provided some much needed parking underground and the roads leading into the parking have been improved and lights added.

We have had a few of the big name coffee shops open up but still have 2 big bar/restruants on the same street as the new centre lying empty and boarded up. Perhaps once the centre has fully opened it will be easier to attract people ro reopen these busineses.

I think it would have had a bigger impact if they had built this out of town and we were lucky to have this land to redevelop within the town centre, it was infact derlict and used as a potholed carpark with crumbling high walls and a few derlict buildings were bulldozed too.

If it is built as an add on to the present shopping area then people once parked up can easily walk the whole area is better than if it is even slightly seperated.

So to answer your question yes it has slightly shifted the focus but on the whole I think it has given the centre a bit of a boost, all be it small.

hulababy · 06/08/2006 21:22

Skribble to you live in a town beginning with D? What you describe sounds very familiar to me!

singyswife · 06/08/2006 21:23

Hi, I live in what used to be a small town. When I moved here some 22 years ago we had a relatively small shopping centre, it is now massive. The town is enormous, it has more than trebled in size, this includes a discount shopping village (McArthur Glen). We also now have a diy retail park and a massive Morrisons and Walmart. At Christmas you cant even get moving "down the centre", my xmas shopping is always done by the end of october. It has been good for the town though, it is always busy and apart from the centre being busy I wouldnt say it has really effected my life greatly. (apart from when I look at pictures of me and brother as children and see how much the place has changed, then I feel old) I wouldnt worry about it.

jampots · 06/08/2006 21:24

we had a new shopping centre opened about 5 years ago - its absolutely excellent with good named stores inc John Lewis. It actually opened in the town centre though just off the high street on the site of what was a huge car park and an indoor market which was vile. People were actually campaigning to keep the market fgs. Other big stores such as HMV, M&S, Monsoon, Laura Ashley, Boots, etc etc etc have stayed within the t/c but out of Touchwood so there's a good mix of stores in and out. In Touchwood there's also lots of eateries and a few bars/bistros and a multi screen cinema

singyswife · 06/08/2006 21:26

Oh yeah forgot to say that we have a 12 screen cinema now too. within the shopping centre

tallmummy · 06/08/2006 21:30

This is happening in Chichester too I believe - the old Shippams factory is being turned into shops and flats. Would love to have a few more decent clothes shops and it's still in town as it were so hopefully other shops won't suffer too much.

Bucketsofdinosaurs · 06/08/2006 21:40

Southampton's main shopping street was dead for a while after they built the huge mall just off it but it's picking up now. They've pedestrianised the older end of it and there's a lovely new weekly foody market and monthly Farmer's Market there.
But otherwise, the town centre never did have any uniqueness or charm so I'd rather have smart retail fronts than the shabby postwar gloom that it was.

LIZS · 06/08/2006 21:41

A few years ago there was a govt policy decision not to allow any further large out of town shopping centres after Bluewater and Cribbs Causeway precisely because of the effect it had on existing high streets, such as Gravesend (Lakeside) and Sheffield (Meadowhall). Emphasis should therefore be on updating and regenerating existing town centres but it depends whether attracting investment from companies not currently represented is seen as part of enhancing the local economy, creating jobs for example.

nikkie · 06/08/2006 21:43

Skribble sounds like my town too!
Just we don't have a monsoon.
We also have a couple of shops in retail parks about 5-10 mins walk from the town centre which are starting to claim shops from the main street.

wartywarthog · 06/08/2006 23:48

am i the only one that's sick to death of the same old boring shops??? now it doesn't matter whether you're in bath, basildon, bromley, brighton, bangor or bognor regis, there's a gap, a debenhams, starbucks etc. god it's so BORING!!!

the council have just raised the rates in our high street by a whopping 300% - no extra services mind you - so that all the lovely little eclectic shops are shutting down and yet another boring old chain is opening up.

really, i despair.

psychomum5 · 06/08/2006 23:54

anyone here live in basingstoke????

My DH was one of the two foremans who bulit the huge shopping centre there, and he reckons he did a good job, and that it boosted the town.

am wondering......did it????

he also was on Castle point in bournemouth (which we live 5mins from), and that has done wonders for shopping, but not so much for the town centre it self...altho that is now being built up more again, so we'll see how it goes at xmas. Could only be a good thing in a way....castlepoint is going to have to close for a while next year cos of the car park. (which incidently my hisband had nothing to do with)...he did the part housing Gap, Next, H&M and M&S....sadly tho he didn't get the fab discount card I begged him for for building it!!!

Original poster
Cappucino · 07/08/2006 10:05

this is all great

just bumping for the daytime people

OP posts:
madrose · 07/08/2006 10:14

we've already got a small shoping centre, BUT it's being rebuilt and is going to be much bigger. We do need a bigger town centre BUT I woud rather that more shops open around the centre and not just big named shops, as personally I do like to be outside. And I like independent shops - more interesting to window shop in.

Went shopping in Nottingham last week and I was desperate to get out of the shopping centre into the fresh air.

Mind you thats me I hate crowds and stuffy places. Handy for bad weather I suppose.

Original poster
Cappucino · 07/08/2006 11:44

tbh it's the independent shops I worry about

I don't want a big generic town centre with the same shops as everywhere else

OP posts:
joelallie · 07/08/2006 13:12

It will kill it. Mainly because if your Town council is anything like ours it's so busy sticking it's tongue up the of the big retailers that it can't see what everyone else can . That is that the little independent shops are actually what makes a High St interesting. Everywhere has a Next, Boots, WHSmiths etc. Not everywhere has the specialist cheese shop, the fabric shop, the independent kids clothes shops. When the nationals move out to go to the big development next door the council and the small shops start to struggle, the council don't help by keeping rents and rates at the same level, they keep putting them up as they would have done for the major retailers. And guess what? The little guys go out of business and the charity shops and the cheap discount shops move in (for a while). We lost M&S about 15 years ago and since then the council hasn't been able to see past that - they keep begging and begging the big guys to come back which of course they won't. They can't see that a high street of independent, interesting, unusual shops would bring people in.

Not that I get upset about this at all....

I do most of my shopping online now or drive to the next town. So sad

babyonboard · 07/08/2006 13:39

hulababy - I have to say I disagree..sheffield centre really suffered after meadowhall was built..and I think it would be a fantastic city centre now if it wasn't for meadowhall..sheffield centre on a sunday is so depressing it really is..just a handful of shops open and hardly anyone aound.

FioFio · 07/08/2006 13:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Original poster
Cappucino · 08/08/2006 10:03

this was really useful, thanks everyone

I might send a link to this thread to my local councillors if no-one minds

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