The prime shopping pitch of Broadmead in Bristol’s city centre might yet play David to Cribbs Causeway’s out-of-town Goliath, but the battle is just beginning. Cheryl Freedman reports.
Bristol’s retail predicament is summed up by the battle of the department stores. In the blue corner is John Lewis which struck the first blow for out-of-city development when it announced its decision to relocate six miles from the city centre to the 67,350m2 (725,000 sq ft) shopping centre now being built at Cribbs Causeway close to the M5.
In the red corner, defending Bristol city centre, is newcomer Bentalls which moves in to the 25,826m2 (278,000 sq ft) John Lewis site in 1998. Bentalls is reported to be spending in excess of £10m to refurbish the store.
Following John Lewis’ bombshell that it would be moving out-of-town, few would argue that Bentalls’ imminent arrival in Broadmead will not boost Bristol’s confidence. “Psychologically, John Lewis has such an imposing building that if it remained vacant, it would have caused a bit of nervousness,” says Jason Schofield of Donaldsons. “Bentalls moving in gives confidence that Bristol is still going places.”
But there are broader issues at stake in the Cribbs-against-Broadmead debate. At a Bristol “in-town versus out-of-town” conference in April, Environment Secretary John Gummer commented: “Too much development in the past 20 years has taken place in places that are only accessible by car.” He went on to add: “If town and city centres are to be competitive they need to draw up a vision, a strategy and an action plan for putting it into effect.”
Vision-maker in this scenario is the Broadmead Board, a body defending the city centre’s image and made up of representatives from Bristol city council, Land Securities, Norwich Union, the Bristol Chamber of Commerce and Marks & Spencer. Heading the board is John Leaver, on a two-year secondment from his job as regional manager for Marks & Spencer. If anything, M&S can be seen as corporate referee for the fight, because it will have stores at both Broadmead and Cribbs.
Taking action
“When Cribbs Causeway opens we will find that Broadmead will be in a much better state than if no action had been taken,” says Derek Oldfield, centre manager for The Galleries shopping centre in Broadmead and member of the board. “The Broadmead board is the teeth of the animal, pulling public and private interest together,” he adds.
Some argue that Cribbs Causeway has actually forced the council to confront its ailing city centre. David Mace of Osmond Tricks is not alone in thinking that investment in Bristol’s city centre is “long overdue”. “Bristol is a great city, but it has been neglected,” says Graham Maskell, development manager for Prudential, which is jointly developing Cribbs Causeway with local property developer J T Bayliss.
Part of the board’s attempt to resuscitate Broadmead’s tired image is a project named The Podium. The junction of Merchant Street and Broadmead is being converted into a pedestrianised “landscaped promotional area” which will be completed in July, according to Oldfield.
The Podium was one of several projects outlined by Donaldsons in a report commissioned by the Broadmead board, Broadmead and the Future of Bristol City Centre. The report addressed issues such as the fragmentation of Bristol’s retail sector and the need to upgrade the environment.
Other plans by the board include restructuring parking and improving pedestrian links. The 1,000-space Parkway car park, at the start of the M32, is to be taken back by the council from National Car Parks, and access to retail areas will be improved later this year. Meanwhile, electronic signs informing drivers of available parking spaces in the city are being developed.
Last month, Sunday trading started at Broadmead, which Oldfield says has been “very successful”. Local retailers clubbed together for a TV advertising campaign to the tune of £45,000. “Proactive retailers have put the faith back into Bristol,” says Oldfield. “From being fragmented we now have quite a village atmosphere.”
Optimism
While the board is optimistic about Broadmead’s future, respondents to this year’s EG occupier survey seem less so. Some 86% of occupiers in Bristol believe that out-of-town shopping at Cribbs Causeway will have a negative effect on the town centre, and 59% estimate that it will affect the shopping habits of their employees.
Right now Cribbs Causeway is an impressive concrete and steel shell. When the £200m scheme is complete there will be 140 shop units and the third-largest food court in the country. Situated by junction 17 of the M5 and with a catchment of 3.9m people, the centre will have 7,000 free parking spaces. Mace asserts: “Cribbs will really put Bristol on the map as a regional shopping centre.”
The John Lewis anchor store will occupy 21,367m2 (230,000 sq ft), while Marks & Spencer will occupy 13,470m2 (145,000 sq ft). Both tenants have taken long leases. John Lewis will be handed the shell at the end of this year for what will become its flagship store in the West Country. Fitting out should take 15 months. Meanwhile, 2,323m2 (25,000 sq ft) each for Boots and Bhs has been reserved at the centre. Details of all deals have been kept under wraps by developers Prudential and J T Bayliss. Letting agents Osmond Tricks, Lunson Mitchenall and Hartnell Taylor Cook have just started marketing to medium-sized retailers looking for between 929m2 and 1,394m2 (10,000 sq ft and 15,000 sq ft). “Tenant demand is very strong from larger space-users to single-unit occupiers,” says Chris Wright of Osmond Tricks.
The likelihood of increased traffic congestion around the site is, naturally, a sensitive issue. Some £12m is being spent on improving highway networks and widening roads. A four-lane slip road is being provided from the M5, plus a dual-carriageway link between junction 17 of the M5 and the A38. Helping matters is the soon-to-be-completed M49, running from junction 18 to the newly opened Second Severn Crossing.
If Broadmead is playing David to Cribbs’ Goliath it is certainly showing that it is ready for the fight. Charles Miller of King Sturge says: “Bristol is a strong retail centre. It is proving resilient to the threat of Cribb’s Causeway. We’re now getting back to where the market sat pre-recession.”
The Donaldsons report showed that vacancy rates are low in Bristol compared with the rest of the country: 10.3% compared with an average 14.5%. And according to a 1995-96 UK Shopping Index survey by Management Horizons, Bristol is in the top 10 – of 1,000 – UK shopping destinations.
Rising rents
Broadmead is currently commanding rents up to £1,507 per m2 (£140 per sq ft) zone A on prime pitches, as a recent letting to The Link underlines.
“It could go even higher,” predicts Andrew Capes of Hartnell Taylor Cook. It is joint letting agent with Dalgliesh at Norwich Union’s The Galleries shopping centre, where Capes says that units are 95% let at the 30,285m2 (326,000sq ft) scheme. Four units are currently under offer. “We’re pleased by the demand. It’s part and parcel of the support and confidence in Bristol city centre. Interest has increased in the past six to nine months,” he says. Joanna Barron of Chesterton agrees: “It’s been an encouraging year for Broadmead.”
While the threat from Cribbs is real, agents remain cautiously optimistic. “Broadmead will survive,” says Matthew Moody of DTZ. “But it will still be in competition to some degree. It’s bound to have some effect, but I don’t think it’s as bad as many people say.”
Charles Miller of King Sturge believes that centres other than Broadmead will suffer: “Cribbs will have the greatest impact on the secondary retail locations in Bristol city centre and centres such as Weston super Mare, Stroud and Bath.”
Many agents believe that temporary traders cluttering Merchant Street and Broadmead lower the tone of the thoroughfares. Some retailers are angry that they are paying prime rents while temporary traders pay far less. In addition, Bristol suffers a large homelessness problem that impinges on the city centre’s image. “There are an awful lot of beggars and vagrants on the streets of Bristol,” points out Moody. However, CCTV is being implemented by the end of the year: “We want to make it a safe shopping centre,” says Oldfield.
Leisure park
Out of town, things have been fairly quiet. South of Bristol, at Imperial Park, on Hengrove Way, Hanson Properties’ new 30,657m2 (330,000 sq ft) retail and leisure park is sited on the former Wills tobacco factory site. Planning approval was granted last June for nine units between 325m2 (3,500 sq ft) and 12,077m2 (130,000 sq ft), available freehold and leasehold. Joint agents are King Sturge and Healey & Baker. The site has a growing catchment area – it is estimated that by 1998 almost 1m people will live within a 30-minute drive-time.
North of Bristol, at Bradley Stoke district centre, there is planning consent for 5,760m2 (62,000 sq ft) of new retail space. A 4,645m2 (50,000 sq ft) Tesco foodstore is already at the site alongside a Bass Taverns pub. Work should start on site at the end of the year. There is also planning consent for a 538m2 (5,800 sq ft) fast-food outlet with parking. Landlord is Scottish Amicable/Bride Hall. Jones Lang Wootton and Donaldsons are letting agents. Rents are quoted at just under £323 per m2 (£30 per sq ft) zone A.
Near Avon Meads at Castle Court, hundreds of people have already signed up to become members of a 3,716m2 (40,000 sq ft) Sainsbury’s cash-and-carry store at a former Cargo Club warehouse. Shoppers must be over 16, pay a £5 membership, and live within a 20-minute drive to join the club which opens on June 18. However, a public inquiry in July will decide whether the store will achieve supermarket status, which it has previously been denied. The purchase was part of a larger deal between J Sainsbury and Nurdin and Peacock, in which the supermarket giant bought three Cargo Club sites for £45m, including stores at Croydon and Wednesbury.
Key transactions
1 The Horsefair, Broadmead:Bentalls is taking John Lewis’ 25,826m2 (278,000 sq ft) store and will move in during 1998. Bentalls reportedly paid just under £9m to secure the end of the John Lewis lease, and negotiated with freeholders Bristol city council to extend the headlease interest to 125 years for a reputed £400,000. Donaldsons acted for John Lewis. Hillier Parker acted for Bentalls.
39-43 Broadmead: Superdrug Stores has taken 418m2 (4,500 sq ft), following a surrender of Body Shop and Salisburys leasehold interests. The units were simultaneously relet to Superdrug on a new 20-year lease at £300,000 pa, which equals £1,356 per m2 (£126 per sq ft) zone A. Mansfield Elstob Main acted for Land Securities.
51-55 Broadmead: New Look obtained the Ann Harvey shop and adjoining Olympus unit, totalling approximately 325m2 (3,500 sq ft) for £313,000 pa. Mansfield Elstob Main acted for Ann Harvey. Jackson Criss acted for New Look. The passing rental was £1,400 per m2 (£130 per sq ft) zone A. The Ann Harvey unit was let on a 25-year lease commencing 1984. The Olympus unit was let on a 35-year lease from Sept 1983. In addition Sears, sublet 33m2 (350 sq ft) of the Olympus unit to William Timpson Shoe repairs for £25,740pa.
64 Broadmead: Dixons, trading as The Link, has acquired the 126m2 (1,360 sq ft) unit on a 10-year lease, commencing 1995, at a rent of £99,500 pa, equal to £1,464 per m2 (£136 per sq ft) zone A. Landlord Legal and General represented itself. Donald Bortolozzo Griffiths acted for The Link.
65 Broadmead: Jeffrey Rogers Retail has taken 108m2 (1,161 sq ft) on a new 25-year lease, at a commencing rent of £90,000 pa, equal to £1,543 per m2 (£135 per sq ft) zone A. Mansfield Elstob Main acted for Signet Group.
Houlton Street: Crest Nicholson Properties has recently sold its 0.6ha (1.5 acre) retail warehouse development to trustees of Gauntlet Hill Trust for £2.7m. The 2,025m2 (21,800 sq ft) two unit scheme is leased by Office World, which occupies one unit. Alder King acted for CNP, which is seeking to sublet the other unit; Hughes Ellard and Johnson Fellows represented Gauntlet Hill Trust, while Bristol city council was advised by the City Valuer.
36-38 Merchant Street: SSL Retail, trading as Olympus Sports, acquired the 169m2 (1,822 sq ft) former Our Price store. Passing rent was £130,000 pa, equal to £1,238 per m2 (£115 per sq ft) zone A, on a lease expiring in 2001. MEM advised Olympus.
49 Merchant Street: British Shoe Corporation, trading as Shoe Express, has taken 213m2 (2,290 sq ft). Passing rent was £135,000 pa, equal to a zone A of £914 per m2 (£85 per sq ft). Harper Dennis Hobbs acted for the assignee. MEM acted for Shoe Express.
5 New Broadmead: Oasis has doubled the size of its outlet by taking an extra 101m2 (1,090 sq ft). Michael Peddar and Co acted for Oasis. Rent is £59,000 pa, around £904 per m2 (£84 per sq ft) zone A on a 15-year lease. Chesterton acted for Scottish Mutual.
6 New Broadmead: The 101m2 (1,090 sq ft) ground floor has been let to British Airways Travel, on 10-year lease from Dec 1995. Rent is £60,000 pa, equating to £904 per m2 (£84 per sq ft) zone A, with five-yearly reviews. Harmer Hoffbrand acted for BA; Chesterton acted for landlord Scottish Mutual.
