Recently in Norfolk Category

Our Mipim issue is just going to bed cue:a huge sigh of relief in the office.

And in honour of the Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk features in it we've asked the agents from the East of England what they think about their markets at the moment.

Locals from Cambridge, Norwich and Ipswich talk about:

• - Ashwell becoming Brookgate and the future of CB1
• - the general election
• - a potential prelet at Targetfollow's Duke's Wharf in Norwich
• - rental growth in Ipswich

Watch the short video above to hear what they say. 

All these topics will be discussed in much more detail in this Saturday's EG, and you can now see all the pictures from the Cambridge reception by clicking here.

There was a brilliant turn out for the EG Cambridge reception on Friday with property players travelling from Norwich, Ispwich and Peterborough to have a tipple and a chat with us.

Below are a few pics from the event. We'll be covering the reception in the mag in our Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk Focus on the 6th March but you can see some of the pictures below right away. 

Pictures courtesy of Marcus Rose marcus@marcusrose.co.uk

Norwich's residents have got a tad over excited about the long awaited arrival of Apple's store at Chapelfields shopping centre. As we found out back in September, owners Capital Shopping Centre's letting to the US tech firm has been a rather badly kept secret.

In fact one local got so excited he decided to write a song about it on You Tube, celebrating the opening and bemoaning the fact that for too long Cambridge was his nearest store. To the tune of The Wurzels' hit classic Combine Harvester it includes the immortal lines:

"I drove my tractor down to London last night, and threw my pitchfork at your Regent Street site.

Cos something telling me that you're avoiding me, come on now Apple you have something that I need....now I've got a brand new Norwich Apple store right in Chapelfields."

This week in the magazine we turn to the East of England and find there are some beacons of light appearing.

One of those is sentiment which seems to be improving, or at least not getting any worse. Stacey analyses the results of EG's latest sentiment survey and finds out just what the local property industry thinks is in store for the immediate future. She's also talked to the ERBI to find out how local technology firms are actually faring.

Drilling down to the individual cities; Cambridge's guided bus is (finally) about to become a reality. Some office park developers think it will boost their rents but they are largely the minority. Will it do any good in the current market?
In the city centre there's been no development for 15years. With the UK market in turmoil is that likely to change and what effect is that having on returns?

Norwich is still waiting for two large schemes by locally-based developer Targetfollow. I've quizzed them about their intentions and ask how much longer will Norwich have to wait? In retail, Chapelfield shopping centre seems to be bedding down with a letting to Apple (oops sorry I'm not meant to mention that) but what deals are landlords in other parts of the city doing?

And in Suffolk secondary office rents are actually rising  but it's at the expense of prime office space, while industrial is suffering heavily after international trade takes a tumble at the port of Felixstowe.

Now here's a story that's completely bananas. Apparently a certain US technology firm, which sounds like something you'd find in a fruit bowl, is fitting out in Chapelfield shopping centre in Norwich.

It's great news for the four-year-old centre which has taken some time to bed down in the city, and it should be the Apple of their eye. But talk to owners CSC and they flatly deny all knowledge of the juicy letting. What makes this story completely bonkers is if you were to take a walk along the upper mall of the centre you'd see the fruity retailer's signs proudly proclaiming their debut in the city.

Do a job search on the occupier's website and look what pops up on the right hand side under "new stores, new opportunities". This sign announcing the project is fairly conclusive too.

CSC say client confidentiality forbids them from saying anything. In fact, they can't even talk about the opening date for "security reasons".

In fairness to them they clearly find the whole thing slightly ridiculous, but isn't this just red tape gone mad?

It's a shame they can't shout it from the rooftops because according to City AM a certain US technology firm on Regent Street in London is taking a big bite out of the retail market.

Photo from Flickr by 1Happysnapper( is catching up slowly) used the Creative Commons license