Competition for Oxford’s limited retail space means that multiples must put forward top marks for the top spaces. Elaine Cavanagh reports
There is no disputing Oxford’s popularity with retailers. According to a new report from mapping information company Goad, 189 of them are champing at the bit to gain space in the university city. Chesterton’s Martin Conway says: “We are constantly bombarded with demand from retailers and restaurants.”
But their desire for representation is often frustrated by a city centre that remains tight with limited opportunities for development. One major high street name that has managed to secure precious space in Oxford is Bhs, which at the end of 1998 opened a 3,251m2 (35,000 sq ft) store arranged on three floors, in the prime pitch, Queen Street.
Abbey Life agreed to forward-purchase the premises, which was developed by Storehouse Properties and is held on a 125-year lease from freeholder Oxford city council.
“The store has been welcomed in the city and it’s good news for the other retailers. For many years, the area was a rather scruffy affair because it was held on temporary lets,” says Conway.
Another inward investor is Standard Life, which has agreed terms with Crest Nicholson to forward-fund the redevelopment of the Debenhams store, to the tune of £25m.
The store, in Magdalen Street, will be refurbished on three floors, retaining the original facade. Several new shop units will be created. One, a 2,415m2 (26,000 sq ft) unit, has already been prelet to Borders bookshop at an initial rent of £639,000 pa.
Work on the scheme is due to get under way in February with Debenhams and Borders opening for business by Christmas 2000.
Local agents believe that the combination of the new Bhs and a revamped Debenhams firmly reinforces the city’s prime pitch.
Shortly before Christmas, Gap opened its 1,000m2 (10,764 sq ft) store at the Cornmarket entrance of the Clarendon shopping centre. In a battle the intensity of which reflected the interest that retail space creates, Gap beat off a line-up including River Island, Burton and Hennes, for the space in the former Littlewoods store.
The retailer is thought to have agreed a rent in excess of £2,153 per m2 (£200 per sq ft) zone A and Jones the Bootmaker is rumoured to have agreed £2,368m2 (£220 per sq ft) plus for their premises. both in Queen Street.
“Lettings such as Gap are good news for the rest of the retailers because it shows that there is more activity in the city,’ says Richard Venables of FPDSavills. “Rental evidence can be difficult to find, however, because so many deals are done off-market. They tend to be institutionally led from London.”
Rents driven upwards
Chesterton’s Conway agrees that many properties exchange hands off-market but says that nevertheless, it is clear rents are being driven upwards.
Meanwhile, the restaurant market is equally eager to grab a slice of the Oxford property market. A similar shortage of suitable premises for them means that any space that arises has A3 operators clamouring for it.
FPDSavills’ Venables says that his company has been marketing a 278m2 (3,000 sq ft) site on Gloucester Street, on behalf of GE Capital, that has potential for a ground- floor restaurant and three storeys of residential. And, he says, when it first went on the market, the firm “received about 300 enquiries within one week”.
The property is now under offer, following 17 actual offers.
Venables’ colleague, Chris Irving, head of licensed retail, comments: “The demand for licensed premises in Oxford continues despite the recent proliferation of A3 operators in George Street. This has led to a number of interesting developments in more secondary locations.”
He cites Regent Inns’ opening of Jongleurs Comedy Club in Hythe Bridge Street and Luminar Leisure’s Chicago Rock in Park End Street, for which it agreed a rent of £150,000 pa.
Another newcomer to the Oxford leisure scene is pizza/pasta restaurant ASK, which has taken premises in George Street, still the city’s hospitality hub. The company paid a £200,000 capital sum for the 464m2 (5,000 sq ft) unit, which is arranged on four levels, and agreed a new two-year lease at £60,000 pa.
Jeffrey Cooper of Cooper Kendall, which handled the deal for ASK, says: “This was probably one of the last properties in George Street to be granted A3 use – and there was a lot of competition for it. So it came very much at a premium.”
A new venue for restaurant development is likely to emerge at the site of Oxford Castle, which was formerly used as a prison.
Following a protracted competition process, Oxfordshire county council has selected a development partner for the scheme. The development consortium comprising King Sturge, Kavaerner and Royal Bank of Scotland is also supported by the Trevor Osborne Group, which will carry out parts of the scheme.
Subject to planning consent, the scheme will include restaurants, a hotel, heritage uses and new office space for the county council.
Christopher Pratt, of King &Co Financial Services, explains: “Invasive archaeological work will happen first and realistically it will be 12 months before anyone puts a spade in the ground.”
Oxford’s congested road system continues to remain a problem. But further initiatives under the Oxford Transport Strategy are now taking shape. The removal of buses from Cornmarket and cars from the top end of High Street and Broad Street are two initiatives up for debate.
According to WS Atkins, advisers to the county council, such schemes will “at last remove traffic from some of Oxford’s most historic streets”.
It was transport issues that helped to ground a proposed £20m leisure scheme, including a multiplex complex, at Oxpens Road, on the edge of the city centre. The DETR refused the scheme by developers Pentith, because of its lack of pedestrian and public transport access.
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Oxfordshire: agents hold a mixed retail bag The retail and leisure markets outside the city are experiencing differing fortunes. London & Metropolitan’s proposals for a multiplex site near Bicester Village, in which it also has a 5% stake, have been rejected on transport grounds and Discovery Properties’ eight-screen complex at Abingdon has been called to public inquiry. At Banbury, however, a Warner Village, which includes a seven-screen cinema, bars and restaurants, has been given the go-ahead by local planners. The scheme will be built at Malthouse Walk, on the site of an NCP car park and close by to the £80m Castle Quay shopping centre. The scheme is being developed by Pillarcaisse in partnership with Raglan and Cherwell district council. Construction of the 23,225m2 (250,000 sq ft) extension to the Castle Quay is scheduled to be completed at Easter 2000, providing a new Debenhams, Woolworths and Bhs as anchors in a line-up that includes Top Shop/Top Man, Superdrug, Burton, Next and First Sports. “Castle Quay will significantly increase the critical mass of retailing within Banbury,” says Andrew Jones, asset manager at Pillarcaisse. “We are confident that it will increase the town’s penetration into its outer catchment, capturing trade that is currently lost to Oxford, Leamington Spa and Northampton,” FPDSavills’ Chris White declares: “We are at a turning point – moving from a market town into a commercial town. There are few towns that did not get a second shopping centre a few years ago. Now we are finally getting one and it’s the motorway that has encouraged such development.” Further south, Bicester Village, Value Retail’s outlet centre that attracts nearly 3m visitors a year, has the go-ahead from Cherwell district council for an extension of 3,530m2 (38,000 sq ft) in 14 units. The DETR has until the end of January to decide whether to call in the decision. If it does not, construction is likely to start in the spring with completion due in late autumn. An earlier application for 21 units was refused. But the new, modified proposal received a more favourable response – including the support of Oxfordshire county council – because of its linkage to a set of transport initiatives. These include subsidies for a shuttle train service from Oxford to Bicester, upgrading the local station, provision of “real-time” train information on electronic displays, creation of a footpath between the town station and the village and installing an on-site bus stop. In Didcot, Taylor Woodrow and South Oxfordshire district council are pursuing plans for the development of the 17,651m2 (190,000 sq ft) Orchards Centre in the town centre. Due for completion in autumn 2001, it will boost the town’s retail offer with a 4,645m2 (50,000 sq ft) food superstore, and a mix of town-centre retailers and those more commonly found out of town. The scheme will also include a new town square, a hotel and a family pub. At nearby Abingdon, Milton Park is also set to receive a boost to its facilities in the shape of The Piazza. Thomas Merrifield is agent for the complex, which comprises two two-storey buildings of 743m2 (8,000 sq ft) each. Due to complete in summer 1999, it is intended to house a convenience store and brasserie/restaurant, as well as other retail services. At Kidlington, just outside Oxford, planning consent is being sought for a retail development of a different kind. Hartwells is hoping to create the Oxford Motor Park on a 4 ha (10-acre) site at Langford Lane, opposite Oxford Spires Business Park. It would comprise seven dealerships and two body shops, giving car buyers comparison shopping and service facilities on one site. Shell buildings would be offered on a freehold or leasehold basis. FPDSavills’ Venables, joint agent with Charles Price, says that it would be the only scheme of its kind in the Oxford area and that there was already interest from four dealerships. |
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Oxford city centre leisure map |
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The mass of recent leisure development shows no sign of abating |
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1 Old School pub (Greene King) |
12 Cock & Camel |
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2 Gino’s Restaurant |
13 O’Neills |
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3 Cafe Rico |
14 Cafe Uno |
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4 The Gourmet Pizza Company |
15 Yates’s Wine Lodge |
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5 The Gloucester Arms pub (Halls) |
16 Old Fire Station (bar & restaurant) |
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6 The Oxford Brew House & Bakery |
17 Old Fire Station Entertainment Centre |
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7 The Set Wine Bar |
18 Euro Bar (cafe & hotel) |
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8 Bella Pasta |
19 Pizza Hut |
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9 ASK |
20 Mongolian Wok |
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10 The Grapes (Morrells) |
21 Opium Den (restaurant) |
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11 Wig & Pen |
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Source: FPDSavills |
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