Trafford Centre
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Trafford Centre | |
 |
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| Mall facts and statistics | |
|---|---|
| Location | Trafford, Greater Manchester, England |
| Opening date | September 1998 |
| Developer | Peel Group |
| Management | Mike Butterworth, Managing Director |
| Owner | Peel Group |
| No. of stores and services | 280 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 6 |
| Total retail floor area | 1,278,387 sq ft (118,766 m²) |
| Parking | 10,000 |
| No. of floors | 3 |
| Website | http://www.traffordcentre.co.uk |
The Trafford Centre is a large indoor shopping centre located in Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester, England.
Contents |
[edit] Structure
It has 118,766 square metres (1.2m square feet) of retail space and attracts 30 million visits annually (2005 figures). It is made up of 4 main areas: Peel Avenue, Regent Crescent, The Dome and The Orient. The centre is owned by the Peel Holdings. The centre was designed so that visitors enter on both of the two main shopping floors in equal numbers [1]. This helps avoid the problem suffered by other centres, such as the MetroCentre, where visitors do not go to upper floors meaning that many big retailers avoid upper floor units.
[edit] Peel Avenue
Peel Avenue is home to the high street shops such as an Apple Store, H&M, and Boots. It is also home to two department stores, the new John Lewis which opened in 2005 at the end of Peel Avenue, and the newly refubished four-storey Marks & Spencer, (see below). The space now occupied by John Lewis was previously a market area known as the Festival Village.
The latest development to be completed is the new four-storey Marks and Spencer. This now features an outside entrance to the foodhall, which will mean that customers doing their food shopping at Marks and Spencer can take their bags straight out to the car park, rather than walking through the mall.
[edit] The Dome
The Dome is in the middle of the centre and is home to more upmarket stores such as the first Selfridges outside of London.
[edit] Regent Crescent
Regent Crescent is the area where most of the high end designer stores are situated like Karen Millen, Jane Norman, Gap and Mexx, it is home to two bookshops as well as Waterstones and Borders and it is also home to two department stores BHS and Debenhams which is at the end of Regent Crescent.
[edit] The Orient and the Great Hall
Other non-retail facilities are all located in a central spur called The Orient, which includes a 20 screen Odeon multiplex cinema, Laser Quest Laser Tag arena, a large Namco Centre with Dodgems, Bowling and Arcade games. There are also dozens of restaurants and bars including The Exchange Bar & Grill, Starbucks, Est Est Est, Ma Potters, Nando's and Cathay Dim Sum. Also has popular fast food outlets - McDonalds, KFC, Subway and Pizza Hut. A new area adjoining the Orient known as "The Great Hall" opened fully in March 2007, although a Costa Coffee outlet opened earlier in January 2007. This new glazed structure, houses five new restaurants and cafes. The decision to extend the current dining facilities was due to the growth in demand amongst visitors wishing to dine during their stay, or indeed visit The Trafford Centre during the evening specifically for food and drink. The Great Hall houses an elegant sweeping staircase featuring hundreds of metres of marble balustrade from China, and the largest chandelier in the World.
[edit] Future developments
The Trafford Centre announced in October 2005, that permission had been granted for further expansion. The 200,000-sq ft extension, which will cost £70m is to be known as 'Barton Square'. It will be located to the west of the main building and will be linked over a through road by an extensive glazed bridge. The new scheme will target the high-quality homewares market with a variety of units offering furniture, kitchens, bathrooms, home furnishings and other goods that are currently not available at the Trafford Centre. A further 630 free parking spaces will also be provided. Construction is well underway on this development and is expected to open in late 2007. Further adjacent vacant ground exists for future expansion of Barton Square.
[edit] Trivia
- Portraits running around the top of the walls of the mall depict members of the Whittaker family, founders of owners Peel Holdings.
- A Mercedes car belonging to the mother of Peel Holding's Chairman, John Whittaker is on display on the first floor mall outside F. Hinds.
- All vehicles entering the Trafford Centre have their number plate details recorded via Automatic number plate recognition.
- The Trafford Centre are also the main sponsors of Salford City Reds rugby league club.
- A popular event is the Christmas lights switch on in October/November with each year being more impressive than the last. This attraction usually features celebrities particularly from football and television.
- The building's public lighting is under state-of-the-art computer control, adapts with the changing environment and can be controlled from one central location.[citation needed]
- The planning process of the Trafford Centre was one of the longest and most expensive in British history. Ultimately the matter was decided by the House of Lords.[1] [2]
- Shortly after its opening, the Trafford Centre provided the setting for Shopping City, a BBC2 daytime programme hosted by Lowri Turner.[citation needed]
[edit] Getting there
The Trafford Centre is situated just off the M60 (Junction 9 and 10).
A common issue for people travelling to the Trafford Centre along the M60 from the north-west of Manchester is traffic congestion over the Barton high-level bridge, as shoppers seek to access the centre via junction 10, particularly in the evening. A way of avoiding this delay is to continue along the M60, and leave the motorway at Junction 9 where access is now almost directly from the motorway roundabout.
Services from the Centre's dedicated bus station link it with Manchester, the surrounding towns, the Metrolink station at Stretford, and Manchester Airport.
There are 10,000 car spaces and 350 coach spaces. Parking is free.
There are also plans to build link off the Manchester Ship Canal on to land adjacent to The Trafford Centre and create a water taxi bus from Salford Quays to the centre.
Plans also exist for a Metrolink service to the centre, however this is pending government funding.
[edit] Shop opening times
The Trafford Centre is open Monday-Friday 10am-10pm, Saturday 10am-8pm (some stores opening at 9am) and Sunday 12noon-6pm with some stores open from 11am. Stores extend their closing times to 11pm on the run-up to Christmas during weekdays.
For people who don't like the busy astmosphere, the best time to go is during weekday mornings or early afternoons. The centre is busy during weekday nights (except Mondays), and very busy on Saturday and Sunday.
[edit] Other attractions in the vicinity
The Trafford Centre is the centrepiece in a series of developments in the same locality, primarily lead and funded by the Peel Group. Other developments and attractions include:
Sports & Lesuire
Barton Aerodrome general aviation airfield
Chill Factore an indoor ski and winter sports centre (under construction, due to open Oct 2007)
Salford Reds 'Barton Stadium' (under construction, completion due 2009)
JJB Soccerdome a football and sports centre
David Lloyd Health and leisure complex
Playgolf golf driving range
Retail
B&Q DIY warehouse
ASDA hypermarket
Costco wholesale discounter
Trafford Retail Park close to the centre with many high street names such as Carphone Warehouse, TK Maxx, etc
Hotels
Travelodge
Golden Tulip
Travel Inn
Offices
Venus Complex
Pubs
Brewster's
[edit] References
- ^ House of Lords (1995) “Opinions of the Lords of Appeal for Judgment in the cause Bolton Metropolitan District Council and others (respondents) versus Secretary of State for the Environment and others (appellants)” 24 May, written by Lord Lloyd of Berwick.
- ^ Trafford Centre (1997) “From de Trafford to the House of Lords” Trafford Centre Insight, Brochure.
