The country’s major centres have survived out-of-town competition by developing attractive images for their prime retail sites. By Janet Reeder
Destination is the buzzword for the towns of Lancashire. Preston is carving a niche for itself as a fashion-orientated destination for shoppers living within an hour’s drive, especially since the second phase of the St George’s Centre refurbishment and extension was completed.
Situated in Friargate and prime Fishergate, Legal & General’s centre is undergoing a £23m redevelopment, creating units in addition to reconfiguring existing space to make larger stores. The new units opened late last year with the majority prelet.
The latest coup for the centre is the signing up of Swedish retailer H&M Hennes as an anchor tenant in a 1,951m2 (21,000 sq ft) unit over two floors. Marks & Spencer, Principles, Warehouse, French Connection, Eisenegger, Alexon and Wallis are among the big fashion retailers also represented.
H&M Hennes’ involvement is particularly significant because the company’s only other store in the North West is in the Trafford Centre, Manchester.
Disney, Jeffrey Rogers, Ciro Cittero and a raft of other names are all relatively new entrants into the town’s retail market.
“Preston is going up the retail hierarchy and when the St George’s scheme is completed, it should start to take the spend from its rivals,” predicts John Agnew of Jones Lang LaSalle.
Matalan, the rapidly-rising, cut-price clothing and homeware retailer has said it will open one of five 4,645m2 (50,000 sq ft) stores in Preston this year, fitting neatlywith the town’s desire to boost its fashion retail image.
But the threat of out-of-town development to towns such as Preston is ever-present. Grosvenor Estates has formed a partnership with Preston council to develop retail, commercial, leisure and residential facilities on a 3.2ha (8 acre) area ofcouncil-owned land outside the town.
The £300m development has been awarded £100m European regeneration money, although the council says that the scheme is still being tested for its viability.
“A number of decisions are being made and it will be around 15 months before anything is decided,” says council spokeswoman Anne Louise Mazafiori.
Richard Wharton of Robert Pinkus comments: “This kind of development seems to have taken a step back.” However, Agnew says that it remains to be seen how out-of-town development will affect the St George’s Centre.
Lancaster
Lancaster has seen little threat from localout-of-town developments, the nearest being the Trafford Centre. Margaret Godding, shopping centre manager and chair of the city’s chamber of commerce, says that the centre is “the sort of place people go to once a year to take a look”.
The city has suffered instead from more alluring developments in neighbouring towns. At the same time, however, there is a lot of optimism about the number of retailers choosing to move in.
Hammicks bookshop, hairdresser Toni & Guy, Time Computers, Tiny Computers and Claire’s Accessories are the big names that have arrived in Lancaster recently.
An encouraging prospect for the city is the planned mixed development at the Kingsway riverside area.
Chelverton Properties, which was given the go-ahead to buy the remaining 45% of council-owned land in December, is looking at ways of making the site an attractive proposition to retail and leisure businesses.
The development has frontage to Parliament Street, the northern access road into the city from the M6. The site also adjoins land already controlled by Chelverton, making its total site around 2.8ha (7 acres). It could provide 20,438m2 (220,000 sq ft) of mixed-use development.
Eifion Phillips of Chelverton points out that, while shopping and leisure have been given priority in neighbouring centres, Lancaster has missed out.
“As other centres continue to expand their facilities, it is vital that Lancaster competes by adding new attractions that help the city grow and develop,” he urges.
While Chelverton is waiting to complete on the land deal, it is also navigating the complex issues of listed buildings consent and the local highways.
Kingsway has long been in need of regeneration, but progress has been hampered by difficult site conditions and other constraints.
“We are doing a lot of work to try to determine what should be the best development for Lancaster, which is why we’ve kept our heads down,” says Phillips. “We’ve got some important listed buildings to consider and we’ve some difficulty with the highways.
“It is a very important site and we want to find the appropriate mixture for an area which is really the gateway to the city,” he adds.
Blackpool
The gateway to Blackpool for many daytrippers and holidaymakers is its bus station – currently the target of a mixed-use development, including food and retail.
“Most people who come into Talbot Road bus station have seen it as old and run down, but this is going to be a boost to shopping and leisure,” says a spokesman for Chelverton, the developer.
Although Blackpool is a destination for pleasure seekers in a very real sense, its retail element has suffered in comparison to thriving Preston – especially since the redevelopment of the St George’s Centre.
“There is concern about the retail, and the big fear is that the town could lose its vitality,” adds Chelverton’s spokesman.
“Some things that have happened, like the Labour Party not holding its annual conference there, have made people slightly nervous. There are a lot of B&Bs and there seems to be a general feeling that the town should have bigger hotels to give a boost to the area.”
