Wealth in store as jewel in Leeds' shopping crown finally opens

And today thousands of people are expected to flood through the doors of the £165m Victoria Gate shopping centre.

Today new figures reveal its arrival in Leeds has taken the level of investment in the city’s retail sector to more than £1bn in just five years.

Research by the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership (LEP) found that since 2011, two million square feet of new retail space has been developed across the Leeds City Region.

The Hammerson’s project is the mainstay of such expenditure complete with the long-awaited investment from John Lewis which has been looking to invest in the Leeds for many years.

Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of the LEP, said “Leeds City Region undoubtedly stands out as a location that has enjoyed unrivalled rates of investment in recent years and is a truly world class destination for investment in the retail and leisure sector.

“Victoria Gate is a prime example of this with leading developer Hammerson, retail giant John Lewis and a plethora of aspirational brands committing to the City Region, many for the first time.

“It should be remembered that Leeds City Region has always held a prominent position in the retail sector thanks to established names such as Town Centre Securities.

“With the recent multi-million pound openings of the Broadway scheme in Bradford, Trinity Leeds, Wakefield Trinity Walk, Vangarde Shopping Park in York, and now Victoria Gate we are now, more than ever, not just one of the UK’s leading shopping destinations, but firmly established as one of Europe’s.”

And there are other developments across Yorkshire which will continue the retail boom including Castleford’s £135m Five Towns Park, the £20m transformation of the historic Piece Hall in Halifax, a cinema and leisure-focused extension at Wakefield Trinity Walk, a £13.7m cinema and 25,000 sq ft of new retail units at White Rose Shopping Centre and Next being named as the anchor tenant for Thorpe Park Leeds’s new 300,000 sq ft shopping and leisure park.

However, within Leeds city centre it is anticipated that Victoria Gate will be the epitome of large scale retail construction with the council’s focus for future development now shifting. In an interview with The Yorkshire Post, Leeds City Council’s executive member for regeneration, transport and planning, Councillor Richard Lewis said the local authority was now open to discussions about office space projects. He said: “There is a limit to the retail core. Leeds has a smaller retail element than, say, Manchester. Leeds is quite compact and I think people would say it is not going to see a big expansion of retail in years to come.”

Victoria Gate did not follow the development path that was intended, he added, given the recession and the changing nature of shopping habits. The original idea or that part of the city was to develop the whole of Eastgate and have retail on both sides of the main road. The second phase of the project is now likely to take the form of office buildings.

Coun Lewis said: “The other part of the scheme has not come forward but we all have a view that it will be office, employment and leisure use rather than retail. Office space needs have changed. People having their own offices has disappeared, hot desking has taken over.

“We need to have grade A space and Leeds has a shortage.”