Drake Circus Shopping Centre

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Drake Circus Shopping Centre


Location	Plymouth, UK
Coordinates	50°22′27″N 4°08′27″W / 50.37417, -4.14083Coordinates: 50°22′27″N 4°08′27″W / 50.37417, -4.14083
Address	1 Charles Street,
Opening date	October 2006
Developer	P&O Estates,^[1] Morgan Stanley Bank
Management	DTZ
Owner	Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund (MSREF), Kandahar Real Estate
Architect	Chapman Taylor
No. of stores and services	48
No. of anchor tenants	8
Total retail floor area	654,000 square feet (60,758.6 m²)
Parking	1270
No. of floors	2
Website	www.drakecircus.com

Drake Circus Shopping Centre is in the centre of Plymouth, England. It is a 60,800 m² (654,000 ft²) covered shopping mall which opened in October 2006. It includes such retailers as Next, Primark, Waterstone's, Virgin, Spudulike, Burger King and Schuh, and abuts an enlarged Marks and Spencer.^[2]

The new building, designed by London-based architects Chapman Taylor^[1] and built by Bovis Lend Lease^[1] and situated behind the ruined Charles Church, preserved as the city's civilian war memorial, has provoked a mixed reception.^[3] Just after it opened, the shopping centre won the 'Carbuncle Cup for crimes against architecture' for being the worst new building in the UK.^[4]^[5] However in 2007 it won two retail industry national awards.^[6]

[edit] History

The term circus as used here refers to an open space, usually circular, where a number of roads meet (see, for example The Circus (Bath)). Drake Circus was originally a large oval roundabout built in the early years of the 20th century at the junction of four roads. The roundabout consisted of Edwardian buildings that housed shops, one of which carried the "Guinness Clock", which was visible to people travelling up Charles Street^[7] and was a famous landmark in the city of the time.^{[citation needed]}

All of these buildings were demolished in 1966-7 as part of the Plan for Plymouth,^[8]^[9] leaving an open roundabout. At this time the lower section of Tavistock Road to the north was renamed Drake Circus, and in the early 1970s, just to the south of the roundabout, a new two-level shopping centre with open malls was built around a large C&A store. This was also named Drake Circus.

Initial proposals to redevelop this mall in the early 1990s failed, but the developers, P&O Estates, tried again in the early 2000s.^[10] Plans were drawn up for a much larger centre, and after Allders signed up as the first "anchor" tenant in 2001, work started in February 2004^[11] on demolishing the old centre and the adjoining Charles Street multi-storey car park.

The scheme suffered a setback in January 2005 when Allders went into administration.^[12] New tenants Next and Primark committed in 2005 and the building opened in October 2006.

On 3 February 2005 it was announced that the shopping centre had been sold by P&O Estates to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund for the sum of £55m.^[13] On 20 November 2006 it was announced that Kandahar Real Estate had taken a 50 per cent stake in the centre.^[14]

The unusually configured new traffic junction on the northern side of the centre has resulted in prolonged traffic gridlock for many hours every weekday since opening.^{[citation needed]}