Recently in Leisure Category

Newport has finally started to find its feet. The news last week that Queensberry had signed its leisure anchor for the £100m Friars Walk scheme in Newport seems to say regeneration is at last beginning to take it's first faltering steps.

As revealed by EG in this week's magazine Cineworld will anchor the leisure part of the scheme with an eight-screen cinema. There's a sparkly new picture of the scheme above and below is how almost the same view point looks today. Debenhams has already signed as the retail anchor and with the incredibly acquisitive cinema operator now taking space it hints that the occupiers haven't given up on Newport.

One agent said that it won't be long before Marks and Spencer makes a reappearance in the town. The retail closed down it's city centre store WHEN in favour of an out of town location, but that could all be about to change. Queensberry have said in the past that they are in still in a dialogue with M&S and it would be mad not to.

But what really gives everyone hope is the fact that Queensberry says it is in "advanced talks" with national operators for the ten restaurant units and has agreed terms with its main fashion anchors. An announcement on the latter is expected very soon.

Newport is still too often the butt of too many jokes. But if, as promised, the developer can nail those retailers then the pundits are going to have to find a different punchline.

Fancy a drink? It seems quite a few of you outside London having been enjoying more than 'just the one'.  

For a slideshow, please click on the above image

On Friday, Land Securities treated me to a bird's eye view of the work in progress that is its 1m sq ft Trinity Leeds development.

As you can see from the pictures, the shopping scheme is really taking shape and from the vantage point of LandSec's marketing suite, it is quite an impressive undertaking.

While in Leeds, I also caught up with Town Centre Securities' which is revamping it's Merrion Centre, had a look at what there is to see of the Leeds Arena building site and had my eye caught by Downing Developments' award winning student digs, Broadcasting Place.

 

Related posts:

Pics and video: LandSec's Trinity Leeds development update

The planet's best tall building of 2010? Student digs in Leeds, apparantly 

At times it may have seemed like an impossible dream, getting a 1.6m sq ft retail and leisure scheme up and running during a recession, losing a developer along the way to administration, but The Rock in Bury finally flung open its doors last week. 

More than 18,000 eager shoppers visited the M&S and Debenhams-anchored scheme within the first two hours of opening and EGTV was there to capture the excitement.

It is 84% let by area and retail and leisure reporter Annabel Dixon spoke to Hammerson, which took over the development for the administrators Deloitte in January, and some of retailers about the journey to the opening.

You can also read the full story by clicking here:

All Leeds council wanted to do was make sweet music.

But today in the council there must have been rather more head banging than rocking out.

Its hopes of a Leeds arena have suffered another blow as the latest twist in the Leeds arena saga emerged. The council said this lunchtime that they're disappointed in a high court judge's decision which rejected the council's bid to overturn parts of a legal action from former city marketing chief Jan Fletcher (there's more on the case by clicking on the continue reading link below).

Jan is a well-known, and fairly feisty character on the Leeds scene and not one to lay back and let anyone walk all over her. But even so this latest turn does look a bit unusual.

Jan's Montpellier Estates has a planning application in with the council for the very site on Sweet Street she'd hoped they'd pick for the arena. She's also like the license the council holds for a large casino.

Now I'm sure that Leeds council will be at pains to point out that one case will in no way influence the other but few developers with a major pending planning application want to say an ill word of the council never mind launch a full blown legal action.

Unless urgent action is taken, the satellite towns of Greater Manchester can look forward to a future of decline.

That was the somewhat grim starting point for a debate held last Friday at Manchester United Football Club's Old Trafford stadium, hosted by the Greater Manchester Business Leadership Council and chaired by Ask Developments' chief executive, Ken Knott.

The high profile panel included Neil Mitchenall, co-founder of retail agency Lunson Mitchenall, Drivers Jonas Deloitte's Manchester head Simon Bedford, and Richard Akers, managing director of Land Securities' retail team.

In an A-Team-style call-to-arms, Knott urged that private sector stakeholders in the eight towns of the city region need to put their heads together and come up with a solution in a bid to bring a concerted regeneration effort to the region.  

Talk in Manchester suggests that everybody's favourite mockney chef, Jamie Oliver, (pictured) is close to agreeing a deal to bring his Jamie's Italian restaurant brand to the city, at long last.

After scouring potential sites , the face of the in-no-way-annoying Sainsbury's adverts and his people are likely to settle on the grand 1920s-built 100 King Street in the city centre; a former Midland Bank (and latterly HSBC) grade II listed building which is owned by Yorkshire-based Marshall CDP.

Oliver's hunt for space has raised the question of just where is the trendy and upmarket retail and leisure pitch in Manchester these days?

Traditionally, King Street in the city core has been the stomping ground of Mancunians with a penchant for designer brands and trendy eateries.

But Mike Ingall's Allied London is determined to inject a bit of luxury and trendiness into its Spinningfields estate on the edge of the city centre. This autumn, at long last (a mere 18 months after it was due to open) Allied will unveil its 'boulevard of international fashion', The Avenue, which has already tempted brands such as Armani away from King Street.

It's as if Christmas has come early for developer McAleer & Rushe.

Bradford city council has agreed to provide £6m to bridge the funding gap at the developer's £45m mixed-use Southgate scheme in the city centre.

As reported in EG last month, the developer went cap in hand to the council for extra cash after its funders, Bank of Scotland in Ireland, said it would only provide 75% of development costs on condition that the developer secures and spends the remaining 25% of costs first. And this was despite the developer securing a pre-let for the entire 117,000 sq ft office element and Jury's Inn as the hotel operator.

But the clinking of champagne glasses may not last long, as a gift this is not. The developer will need to have paid back the £6m, with interest, by the time the project is completed in October next year, which is when Provident Financial, wants to move into its new offices.

And with the council already spending £10m on Bradford's City Park and mirror pool water feature at a time when local authority finances are already under pressure, the council will no doubt be feeling that this repayment date can't come soon enough.