Shrewsbury’s shopping malls in £150m merger
Friday 24th June 2011, 1:31PM BST.
Shrewsbury’s three shopping centres will be merged to create a £150 million mall including a new department store, it was revealed by the owners today.
The move will see the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside centres renamed New Riverside under plans which will also see the centres linked with the River Severn.
In addition to a new department store, up to 60 new shops and restaurants will be created.
Bosses said the proposals would make Shrewsbury a “more attractive” place to shop and visit.
The plans will be officially unveiled at a public exhibition running from July 14 to 16.
Members of the public are being encouraged to give their views on the plans at an exhibition which will be held in the Darwin Centre.
Owner of the centres, UK Commercial Property Trust, is being advised by Ignis Real Estate and the Shearer Property Group.
Guy Shearer, of SPG, said: “The centre of the town has not seen any significant development for 20 years. The redevelopment and refurbishment of these three centres is well overdue and will provide a significant improvement in the shopping offer by attracting a new department store to the town, together with other important retailers not currently represented.
“We want to invest in Shrewsbury’s shopping centres to complement the existing shopping choice and thereby attract more visitors and shoppers to the town.”
Officials say the transformation will be achieved through a combination of redevelopment and refurbishment and will be undertaken in phases.
If approved, work could start on site by summer 2013 and be completed by autumn 2015.
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3 eyesores become one! Big deal. The usual promise of new jobs and associated spin will spur on the weak willed clowns at the council to allow any proposal regardless of increased traffic, listed building risk and overdevelopment of the riverside. Hope all proposals on Smithfield Road fail. Get it in to your heads Nutting et al. This is not Telford, Wolverhampton or Birmingham, please go to those places if you want to perpetuate your concrete and glass visions.
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Yeah because that section of Smithfield road is so beatiful with its bus station, multi Storey car park and back end of Wilkinsons.
This must be preserved at all costs. (shakes head)
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Fo pay attention peter. It is the traffic issue on Smithfield road rather than it’s aesthetics that is of importance. However the riverside there is undeveloped and has some good early 19 th century houses along it. Keep up ( shakes head ).
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” listed building risk “, No Iron flag, i think Peter has commented on your quote rather well there. I don’t think there are any listed buildings along that part of Smithfield road.
You just need to read some of the tripe you write down occasionally.
( equally patronising head shaking, followed by a ) Tsssk..
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Fully agree with you. Given Shrewsbury’s importance as an historic town, the modern shopping centres with, at the rear, their fake black and white appearance look absolutely appalling when viewed from the River Severn.
Between them, the Pride Hill and Charles Darwin centres have managed to suck all the quality shops in Shrewsbury into them, leaving the approaches to the town commercially in decline. The planners never ever manage to “get it right”. And what outlets will be found to fill the 60 new shops? No doubt we will be told of the enormous potential for jobs, which will not materialise as billed. Most will be part-time and poorly paid.
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Where would you otherwise suggest retailers such as next, River Island, Currys Digital go? Wyle Cop!? Frankwell?? Even Shoplatch, Mardol and High Street have units far too small for these firms. Common sense, please.
At present, the centres provide a number of retailers a presence in town which simply couldn’t be accomodated elsewhere. Leave it to the independents to occupy smaller units.
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Do pay attention iron flag, there are no listed buildings along that section of Smithfield Road at all. Keep up
And where exactly do the traffic issue come into this? Please do enlighten us all
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Hmmm bit of de ja vu here folks…
How many times have we heard this before. The last time it was going to happen it was stopped because of the old town wall that runs along the back of the shopping centres and because of the land in between on Ravens Meadows is owned by Morris’s who won’t sell. It’s used as a rough ground car park now.
Bet you it won’t happen its just talk to try and give this faling town and it’s failing shop owners some encouragment…
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New Department Store – please let it be John Lewis.
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Here here!
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Hear hear!!
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Iron Flag,
I’ve yet to read a comment from that isnt negative and bitter, I look forward to one.
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Well pay attention and read a little further. Just because you are hoodwinked by spin and nice men in suits telling you something is good it doesn’t always mean it is.
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So far it seems like the usual knee-jerk reactions which we see all over the place. Complaints about how dead a place is, with no-one going there to shop, then when there is interest by developers (who would not be investing if they felt that the place was so dead that it was not worth it)loud shouts of “it shouldn’t be allowed!” Iron Flag your ringing endorsement of Telford and disdain for Shrewsbury may be a reason why shop keepers are complaining about trade!
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Do wake up, I have no love for Telford and do not shop there. I support our independent traders within the loop who do their best against the tide of chain stores and our moronic council. Existing empty units are everywhere without need for new developments. You and your kind who encourage the destruction of our heritage and encourage the downfall of our independent traders should be ashamed. Look at your own Oswestry a ghost town now in the pockets of supermarkets. Engage your brain before you speak please.
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You should visit Telford every once in a while, the Ye Oldie Worldie shopping experience you crave for is alive and well at Blists Hill Victorian Museum..
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Ha how drole. I’ll leave you to tell us all about blists hill, but do resist the urge to knock it down and create your concrete utopia.
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The fall of the independant trader is a far bigger issue than just linking the 2 shopping centres, anyone with a basic grip on economics can understand that.
Just look at all the people who flood to Waitrose for example. Simply stopping new developments is not an answer, so I suggest you need to wake up and look at the bigger picture such as this well pubicised recession they are all talking about.
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I agree re supporting independent traders in the loop.
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There is already a large area in the Pride Hill which has been empty for years where C&A were.
Also many empty shops in all the centers which people can not afford to rent.
How will all this new space be filled?
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Lots more empty shop units, for Christmas lettings and charitable exhibitions when the new tenants realise they cannot afford the rent, followed by more larger than life children’s characters and robots to tempt shoppers in for a day.
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I am please to here of this developement with in our town it is well needed the poor old tired riverside has needed knocking down for years and the centres joining together into one is a great move i look forward to it and seeing lots more new retailers within our town , I was born in Shrewsbury and live in Shrewsbury and think its fantastic that we are starting to fight back with a refreshment of the town centre shopping centres against these awful out of town stores and superstores that seem to want to keep increasing there size and decreasing our town centre shoppers .
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Sounds positive. Bring on some good design none of this fakery. If it involves glass and concrete it will be expensive if it is yet more stone cladding it will be tacky.
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Heard it all before. More retail space is not needed in Shrewsbury, a town with oodles of empty shops as it is. And what’s with the “New Riverside” name? Utter rubbish.
Don’t hold your breath – the “gap site” will still be a “gap site” come 2020, mark my words.
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primarkkkkk!!!!!!!
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classy…telford has a big primark already, we don’t need one
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here we go again wasting money on something that not going to work towns dying on its feet parking charges all time high why dont you just close all traffic and make it a bus only travel in and out of town, makes sence as you cant afford to shop for 3 hours to park your car at nearly 5 to 6 pounds.
Also ask question where do they get this money from???
council tax money going to waste again and again
i bet the next thing they will be doing is putting up for city status again.. why do you need shrewsbury to be a city its ok the way it is.
have fun spending money on more useless shops that will turn into charity shops when they not filled.
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To be honest, charity and second hand shops are the best thing about the Shrewsbury shopping experience these days, because the stock is unique. Almost everything else in our identically cloned UK high streets can be bought on t’internet.
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Ha! you’ve been ripped off with your parking mate!! Only £2.80 in frankwell last time i checked.
And how about we ban all motor vehicles from shrewsbury altogether and go back to only allowing horse and carts in?
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[Also ask question where do they get this money from???
council tax money going to waste again and again]
Mark,
The whole area is privately owned so although originally it belonged to tax payers it was sold off probably in the 1980s and has not now been in public hands for many decades.
If there is confidence that Shrewsbury is worth investing in then great but I hope it will not be because it is going to further develop into a town for the elderly.
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Can the town cope with 60 more charity and pound shops?
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You say ‘marl’ I say ‘arcade’..let’s call the whole thing off..and agree that i’m right..and British
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Why don’t we try and fill the empty shops we have before building more!!!
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Wasn’t this already announced about 5 years ago? What happened to the ‘Castle Gate Shopping Centre”?
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Yes I remember that probably already spent millions on feasability and name choice studies!
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I think you’ll find it was ‘Tudor Gate’ – but good to see the new, re-hashed plans, don’t even take into account that the town already voted on a new name, whether good or bad, another example of not listening to the public
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Will someone please clear something up for me?
I was a young girl at the time but I’m pretty sure on the middle floor of the pride hill centre there used to be a cafe/restaurant place, where new look is now, and to the side of it was a door leading to the glass sided bridge that took you over to the spiral staircase at the entrance to the riverside by ethel austin. People have looked at me funny when I’ve mentioned it in the past. It did used to be like that didn’t it?
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You remember correctly. It wasn’t that long ago when it disappeared.
Another loss – from both centres if I remember correctly – are the water features on the ground floors. And then of course there was the wonderful Shrewsbury clock-feature in the entrance mall to the Darwin centre. Why that had to go I cannot understand. Blandness seems to be the way these days.
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The clock needed repairing and was considered too expensive at the time, it was placed in storage and eventually, sadly, skipped.
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Yes that clock was great, children especially loved it – bring back the clock!
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You are correct, the glass sided bridge leading to the spiral staircase is still there, it just doesn’t get used anymore except for security staff. You can still see it from outside.
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I remember that.
Used to love the old spiral staircase
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what makes Shrewsbury a nice place to shop is NOT the shopping centres, which I rarely visit, but the narrow streets and the individual shops. If you want to spend alot of money, improve the market.
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and reduce the parking charges!
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Much agreed, I’d still like a John Lewis, though shops like oberon, wysteria lane, vinegar hill & candleglass are what the town is really about
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Plus T-Mobile, o2, 3, Orange, Phones-4-U. Get the picture?
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Agree the little shops is what makes shrewsbury special.
my favourite shop in town is that hippy shop on Dogpole – ENJOY! – i get all my wife and mothers day type presents from there its ace, plus the old victorian arcade is good and with the nice cafe/bars like cromwells and mad jacks I think the st marys and dog pole is my favourite corner of town personally
incomparable to going round tesco
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The clock was not timeless but tasteless!
It was a cheap and feeble attempt to copy the beutiful craftmanship of those in German towns.
It was liked by children however.
There’s a Beatrix Potter one in the shopping mall in Gloucester.
[ improve the market.]
The market is an exciting 1960s building which for some crazy reason a few years ago was Victorianised. It was originally designed so that you could see the goods from the balconies on the long tables not a load of stripes.
It should always have been accessible from the ground level so as to to have a far more pubic presence to draw people in.
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Friends from all over the country come to shop at the independents, not the chain stores.
Kat
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“It should always have been accessible from the ground level so as to to have a far more pubic presence to draw people in.”
Perhaps they shouild move it to Grope Lane…..
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….and perhaps I shouild check my typing before hitting “Submit Comment”……
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We hear again they are going to link the centres together but who is going to fill the shops. More chain stores? If we want independant shops who are they going to be.
What most people dont know when you rent a shop in a centre its expensive , you are expected to pay for the upkeep of the centre(service charge again expensive) then on top of that pay Business Rates.Then wages for your staff etc etc. The list goes on
Unless something is done about how expensive it is to rent a shop , cut the costs for example the rates by half, engourage independant in and stay there creating jobs. Instead eveything keeps going up!
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Yes, having discussed plans and requirements with prospective tenants, the shopping centre owners are so confident that the units will remain empty that they will waste their £64m purchase of the existing centres and squander a further £150m in refurbishing and redeveloping them.
Good God.
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God there are some incredibly UGLY buildings in Shrewsbury. It really was destroyed by the planners. What a shame – we’ll never get the old place back
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Since when do planners design buildings? I think you’ll find that they are usually designed by architects.
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Don’t let little things like ‘the truth’ or ‘facts’ get in the way of a hysterical anti council rant!!!
And anyway judging by her name it appears she is from Slough!! and shes judging us on ugly buildings?
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I’m He not she … Pat can be a blokes name as well, as you may have noticed.
Planners give planning permission and allow old buildings to be destroyed to make way for ghastly horrors. @Pete -Where do I say Slough’s buildings are better ? Slough is a dump. I don’t want Shrewsbury to end up the same way. I’ve got a better view from a distance. Do you locals REALLY not care if your historic town is destroyed bit by bit
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“up to 60 new shops and restaurants will be created.” So that’s another 60 empty units to go with the existing blank spaces in Pride Hill and Darwin centres. When will the planners realise that as long as Shrewsbury has difficult access, limited and expensive parking that the town is a dead duck as far as retailing is concerned.
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Well I was referring to attracting people in at the bottom Rob!
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You had me worried for a minute there – although I’m sure it would draw the crowds!
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Its a good thing this, but yes some section 106 money should be hived off by the Council and put into marketing the shop in the loop campaign or reducing business rates for shops turning over less than £50k per annum or some such
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What are they offering for the gay community? yet again weve been left out. Disgusting.
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Great news!!! scruffy derelict land regenerated jobs created more choice more shops new stuff exciting!
be happy salopians! :)
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Seem to be a little off the mark here, but with respect to those passionate enough to care about the town, I would like to perhaps point one or two facts.
The previous development included the gap site but was effectively a non starter due to the 70 steps and the unlikely success of the model “trying to work around it”
The new scheme does not!!
The scheme caters for larger A1 /A3 offers that cannot be accommodated within the town for the very reasons someone has already pointed out…..they cannot be reconfigured due to planning constraints, and such multiples have strict business models (they have completed the research)
They are aware of what works and who their customer are and will entertain coming to such a scheme based on the fact they have targeted Shrewsbury as a requirement.
New builds are in decline in uk with very few new shopping centres being built over the next 10 years therefore developing an existing asset and making it attractive to “upcoming” new retailers is the “only” way to go.
Shrewsbury needs an attractive new shopping offer that compliments the town, may I suggest anyone totally negative out there who cannot stomach change in any form should wait for mid July so you can actually see what is proposed.
Traffic…..sadly no one is going to move the river so let’s just work with what we have please.
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