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18
Jan
What can be done to improve Victoria Shopping Centre?
The truism that ‘times are hard on the high street’ has been repeated so often in recent years that it’s become a cliché. But like all clichés, there’s a hefty dose of truth in it.
The economic downturn, exacerbated by covid, appears to have been made permanent for many traders by the inexorable growth of e-commerce. All too often, hitting the shops now means little more than finding somewhere comfy to sit while you cruise the internet on your phone.
The state of Harrogate’s town centre demonstrates the situation – there have almost certainly never been more empty units than there are now – and Victoria Shopping Centre is a microcosm of the wider situation in retail.
As recent visitors to the centre will have noticed, there are currently some very visible vacancies in the centre. There are at least six on the ground floor alone, and another two upstairs. A third will appear when Baytree Interiors moves out next month.
Chaos closed after five months
This unit used to be occupied by Boggle Hole gift shop.
Baytree Interiors will vacate the shopping centre in February.
The Stray Ferret asked some of the tenants their view of the situation. Most declined to be named, but all were happy to be quoted, if only anonymously.
Some felt the main problem was financial – rent and rates are too high.
One trader said:
It just needs sorting – it needs filling. It’s probably down to the rent – it's quite high.
It's not just the interior units that are vacant.
This unit is now used for pop-up shops.
Another, Shaun Blackman, who works part-time in wholefoods shop The Grape Tree, said:
We get good footfall here, and we have a loyal customer base, but I think the problem is the rent, to be honest. Rents are creeping up. I think it might do some good if they brought them down.
But on a more positive note, he said:
As a whole, Harrogate’s done alright. Even after covid, Harrogate was doing OK compared with a lot of other places, especially in West Yorkshire, such as Doncaster, Wakefield and Pontefract. Then again, it does have too many cafés.
In years past, this long-vacant first-floor unit was home to a model shop
Another said the departure of so many businesses had had a negative impact on the atmosphere of the centre. She said:
When Café M was open, it was busy and it brought a lot of people into the shopping centre. And there were shops like New Look and the piercing place, Silver Linings, that brought young people in.
But now there’s very little to attract them and you can really feel the difference.
This large unit used to be occupied by Café M.
New Look was one of the bigger names to leave the centre recently.
The now empty Silver Linings unit on the ground floor
But for one trader, the problems ran far deeper than the rent demands. He said that there were longer-term problems caused by a lack of financial commitment to the centre.
London-based Coal Pension Properties put the shopping centre up for sale in 2023 with a price tag of at least £6 million. Several parties showed immediate interest, but no buyer has yet been found.
The trader said:
The owners are trying to sell the place, and it appears they’ve stopped putting investment in because they don’t want to ‘chase it down the pan’.
Things keep going wrong – the lift breaks down, an escalator stopped working for about two weeks over Christmas, and the heating doesn’t work properly. It’s an old building now, and there are a lot of costs to take on.
The Stray Ferret has asked the management of Victoria Shopping Centre for comment, but we have yet to receive a response.
If and when a buyer is found, it could well be that they feel the need to remodel the 144,000 sq ft centre to adapt to the demands of the modern high street.
The old Debenhams site in Harrogate could provide a pattern to follow – it is currently being redeveloped as retail units on the ground floor with apartments above. The same has happened with the new Pandora store on Cambridge Street, and to countless properties in other town centres.
At least one potential buyer is believed to have wanted to convert the upper level of Victoria Shopping Centre to residential use, but no plans have yet found favour with North Yorkshire Council, which owns the land.
A hairdresser occupied this first-floor unit, followed for a while by Harrogate BID
But other ways of reconfiguring the centre are also possible. Matthew Chapman, chief executive of Harrogate BID (business improvement district) said:
One of our biggest challenges as a town is we do not have vacant units big enough to attract those high-street brands that we regularly hear people requesting. These brands will initially look at available space and if it’s not big enough for them, that’s where the enquiry stops.
Another area we hear mentioned regularly is the leisure offer. Could vacant spaces be adapted to host more experiential sectors? Buildings would certainly need to be adapted, but it would be by no means impossible.
All of which could mean that we might yet see a revamped shopping centre with larger units plus something to do – a bowling alley, perhaps?
The property has been on the market for 15 months, however, and there has been no news yet of any firm offers being made, so its rebirth is unlikely to arrive any time soon.
In the meantime, shoppers will have to hope that more retailers try their hand at trading from the shopping centre, filling those empty units – and traders might have to just keep hoping for a rent freeze.
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