Marks & Spencer is negotiating with Peel Holdings to open an 8,361 sq m (90,000 sq ft) store at its 92,900 sq m (1m sq ft) Trafford shopping centre to the south of Manchester.
The talks follow a change of heart for the retailer, which originally turned down the opportunity to go to the centre, preferring to focus resources on an out-of-town store at Handforth, near Wilmslow, which opened in October 1995.
The Trafford Centre’s managing director Mike Butterworth confirmed that talks have taken place. He said that M&S had asked Peel if space was still available, but by that time anchor store deals had already been struck with Debenhams and Selfridges.
The planning consent for the centre does not place a limit on the number of department stores that can be built at the scheme, but it does limit the overall size of the centre to 92,900 sq m (1m sq ft).
Market sources claim Peel plans to redevelop Festival Hall, the 8,361 sq m (90,000 sq ft) mall which is let to small traders outside the terms of the Landlord and Tenant Act, as a store for M&S when the leases run out in three years’ time.
But Butterworth denied this was the case; “We’re very happy with the festival hall,” he said. M&S said that talk of a possible deal was “pure speculation.”
EGi News 29/05/98
