Morrison Merlin’s £100m Great Northern Experience leisure development in Manchester has suffered a blow after Yates Wine Lodge announced it is pulling out of the scheme.
Yates’ was due to occupy a 1,114 sq m (12,000 sq ft) unit in the 46,450 sq m (500,000 sq ft) retail, leisure and office scheme on the corner of Peter Street and Watson Street. It would have been the bar operators’ largest ever unit in the UK. A spokesman for Yates said that the company had decided not to take the space for “operational reasons.” He said: “We are not convinced that the city’s bar network is heading in that direction. It’s just in the wrong place.”
The scheme, which is to be anchored by a 18,580 sq m (200,000 sq ft) AMC multiplex cinema, is a joint venture between Morrison Developments and Merlin International. Richardson Developments’ rival Printworks development is nearby, in the Shude Hill area of the city.
Morrison’s development manager Andrew Scott said: “This is not a major setback for the project, which continues to generate a great deal of interest, with Scottish & Newcastle recently signing up for a Bar 38.”
He added: “Richardson’s Printworks scheme does not represent a threat to the Great Northern. Not only are the two concepts completely different but the Great Northern offers a completely new platform for retailers and leisure operators in Manchester.”
Scott concluded: “Morrison Merlin is therefore entirely confident that when the Great Northern is actively marketed there will be no difficulty letting the units.”
EGi News 27/04/99
