2 months ago
9 
THE future of an abandoned £50 million UK shopping is cast in doubt after it was branded a “disaster” by disappointed locals.
Regents Circus in Swindon‘s town centre first opened in October 2014, equipped with everything from a six-screen cinema to five supermarkets.
Google mapsRegents Circus in Swindon’s town centre first opened in October 2014[/caption]
Google mapsIt’s been branded a ‘disaster’[/caption]
Google mapsThe shopping centre has been left abandoned[/caption]
Some £50 million was invested into the site by UK Commercial Property Trust (UKCPT) which transformed it into a shopping and dining hub for locals.
But despite its initial success in attracting brands and shops, the development was put on the market just six years later for less than half the price of the development.
It never sold and has since been labelled a “disaster”.
The centre’s future is now under question as more and more businesses shut up shop.
Morrisons closed its store just five years after opening in 2019, putting 113 people into redundancy, while Cineworld closed its cinema in October as part of a major “restructuring process”.
Lib Dem councillor Stan Pajak, who represents Eastcott and campaigned for the supermarket to stay open told Swindon Advertiser: “It’s such a disaster, the whole thing.
“Since losing Morrisons it’s dramatically gone downhill. It has been a disastrous story.
“You wonder if there will be any take-up of the remaining premises on the site.
“It’s a terrible situation.”
“We need to save our town centre because it’s in such dire straits. You often hear new people might come in but it never happens.
Meanwhile, pizza restaurant Dough and Co shut up shop in 2022 after just a year in business, while Korean BBQ restaurant Funky Grilla also closed its doors at the end of that same year.
Lamaya Lebanese Kitchen and Bar and the Gourmet Burger Kitchen also followed suit.
Most recently, the games bar Boom Battle Bar, announced it would be shutting its venue following a string of financial pressures.
A spokesperson for UKCPT said the complex had been impacted by a “challenging retail environment”.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
This comes as a ‘space-age’ shopping centre that was once the biggest in Europe has turned into a massive ghost town.
The complex was inspired by American-style malls and was opened by the late Queen in 1972, but now many of its stores are derelict.
Runcorn’s Shopping City in Cheshire, was designed to be a one-stop shop, which would stock every necessity for the town under one roof.
The building’s structure broke the mold for the architecture at the time, with its sharp edges and minimalist frame.
At the time, it was described by The Times as “a sort of building imagined by science fiction writers.
“In appearance, it resembles a supersonic mosque, with gleaming white bricks even on the dullest day.”
Just eight years after its grand opening there were 100 shops in the 807,000 sq ft complex.
It became a hub of entertainment too, with cinemas, a bingo hall, betting shops and pubs.
The walkways were lined with carpet and the centre was linked to the local hospital and courts by sky walkways.
A Royal Mail stamp was also created in its honour with the words “Runcorn Shopping City: Largest in Europe.”
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