not really clothes more shopping...

[Cappucino]

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 just wanted to hear other people's experiences to I can make up my mind properly

anyone?

well, I used to live near Newcastle and there was a definite slump when the Metrocentre opened (massive out-of-town mall - biggest in the UK when it opened IIRC).

OTOH, Newcastle city centre was a bit dowdy at the time. It took years for it to catch up, but IMHO is much better now for having had the competition.

It's slightly different to your situation though, because the Metrocentre is a couple of miles out of Newcastle and people don't walk between the two so it's more of an either/or thing.