Plans for a new restaurant scheme in Inverness city centre have hit a bump in the road following local councillors’ unexpected refusal of one key element that wasn’t quite to their taste.
Scoop Asset Management, part of the joint venture that owns the Eastgate Centre, is planning around 25,000 sq ft of food and beverage outlets at its neighbouring Falcon Square site. Its proposals came before the Highland Council at the end of September. Scoop’s new-build space was approved, but a modern, glazed extension to existing American-themed restaurant The Filling Station that is based in a Grade C listed building proved too much for planning councillors, who saw it as discordant with the conservation area.
A somewhat dismayed Scoop is now mulling over its options to resubmit its proposals or appeal. Director Graham Cole says: “Our application was submitted with full recommendation by officers. We had been through a public consultation and we had taken on board design variants recommended by officers. Now we have a refusal out of the blue.
“This is a stumbling block – but we’re still going out to achieve what we wanted to achieve. It’s more of a design frustration. We had this planned as a holistic framework to give Falcon Square an uplift. Now it will be more piecemeal.”
Highland councillor and member of the South Planning Applications Committee, Thomas Prag, says: “I think we would all support the aim to improve Falcon Square. Our concerns were purely to do with the design, which seemed to us inappropriate in a conservation area. We have policies that support quality design which enhances and preserves such areas, and these were the grounds for our refusal.”
Cole, meanwhile, stresses the situation makes no difference commercially to Scoop’s plans. Prelet negotiations on four new restaurants, replacing a former Monsoon store, are reaching final stages, and he confirms that 15-year leases are being discussed at rents that represent “good city centre levels”. Preparatory on-site works should also begin in November.
Highland capital Inverness ticks a lot of boxes – history, landscape and, of course, the Loch Ness monster. The city’s retailers also have access to what is said to be the largest geographic catchment in Western Europe.
However, a bit like sightings of Nessie, the branded restaurant sector is nowhere to be seen.
Just over a year ago, as new owners of the 410,000 sq ft Eastgate Centre, Scoop immediately recognised the gap in the market. “We were pleased to have made the acquisition because it’s a proper regional centre,” says Cole.
“However, it was screamingly obvious that there was a lack of drop-in type restaurants that you would associate with a shopping trip.”
Inverness has a good crop of high-end, individually owned eateries, and its fair share of ‘grab and go’ kiosks. So, despite the recent set-back, Cole says it remains Scoop’s aim to fill the middle ground with some of the brands you’d expect to see in a city centre.
Scoop has been working with Pod Architects on the design concept. Eastgate was built in two phases, in the 1980s and late 1990s, and much of it is a “typically inward looking shopping centre”, according to Paul Shedden, director at Pod. A contemporary design will blend glass and metal with its traditional stone, render and slate.
“We are also introducing The Curve, a design that will draw pedestrians in through various routes,” he explains.
There have also been asset management initiatives within the main malls. As Cole explains: “We are renewing leases to existing, good-quality operators and encouraging them to undertake their latest refits. We’ve already done this with Starbucks, Perfume Shop and Vodafone. We have also had a small number of vacant units as a result of administrations such as Officers Club, now under offer to Quiz ladieswear.”
Retail agents are not expecting the Eastgate project to have a marked effect on city property values but an improved offer should, they say, increase dwell times and spend levels.
Cole confirms the purchase of the centre was predicated primarily on improving the asset and expanding the city centre market during what is likely to be a medium-term ownership for them.
The Eastgate investment will also feed into train operator Abellio’s £2m upgrade of the nearby Inverness railway station, and it is hoped the two projects will give visitors a more impressive gateway arrival in future.
Are new restaurants at Eastgate what Inverness needs?
Mike Smith, manager, Inverness BID: “We welcome the investment. The more we can offer residents and visitors, the more it boosts footfall in the city centre.”
Martin Gudaitis, retail & leisure specialist, Paradigm Asset Management Group: “It’s exactly what they should be doing and I know there is a depth of demand from restaurants to take that space.”
James Gregory, partner, Culverwell: “There is a real synergy between retail and A3 in terms of increasing dwell times, so having new restaurants there is a very good starter for 10.”
Stewart Nicol, chief executive, Inverness Chamber of Commerce: “We need to attract everybody to the city – the Eastgate plans are an important launch pad for that.”
