Trafford Centre
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| 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 Trafford in Greater Manchester, England, UK.
Contents |
[edit] Structure
It has 118,766 square metres (1.2m square feet) of retail space and attracts 29 million visits annually. It is made up of 4 main areas: Peel Avenue, Regent Crescent, The Dome and The Orient. The centre is owned by the Peel Group. 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 stores such as Apple Computers, 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 floor Marks & Spencers. Previously the space now occupied by John Lewis was a market area known as the Festival Village.
[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 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. In early 2007 The Orient will be joined by a new development called The Great Hall (see below).
[edit] New developments
A new area in front of the Orient known as "The Great Hall" is due to open in early 2007. This new glazed structure, which was previously open space in front of the Centre, will house 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 space will house an elegant sweeping staircase, hundreds of metres of marble balustrade that have been shipped in from China, and the world's largest chandelier.
In addition to this, the Orient is being expanded to accommodate the growing demand and four more restaurants are due to open to coincide with the opening of The Great Hall.
The new restaurants/ cafes opening within The Orient or The Great Hall are:
- Sam & Maxie's (Now Open)
- Pizza Express (Now Open)
- Costa Coffee (Now Open)
- Cafe Rouge (Now Open)
- Giraffe (Now Open)
- Zinc Bar, Zinc Grill
- Sri Thai
- Las Iguanas
- Pesto
- Carluccio's (Opens in 2007)
The Trafford Centre announced in October 2005, that another proposed expansion had been approved. The new 200,000-sq ft extension, which costs £70m and is known as the 'Barton Square' development, will be linked 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 has now begun on this development and is expected to open in late 2007.
The latest development to be completed is the new four-storey Marks and Spencer. Work has just recently started on builiding an outside entrance to the foodhall, which will mean that customers doing their food shopping at Marks and Spencer will be able to take their bags straight out to the car park, rather than walking through the mall. The trolley parks have just been installed into the car park nearest in expectance of this. The new car park facing entrance is now open
[edit] Trivia
- 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 BBC 2 daytime programme hosted by Lowri Turner.[citation needed]
[edit] Getting there
The Trafford Centre is situated in Trafford Park, Greater Manchester and is just off the M60 (Junction 9 and 10).
A common issue for people travelling to the Trafford Centre along the M60 motorway from the east 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.
[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] 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.
