Thistles Centre

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The Thistles Shopping Centre
Facts and statistics
Location	Stirling, Forth Valley, Scotland
Address	Gooseport Road, Stirling
Opening date	1977 1997 (Thistles Marches extension)
Owner	Standard Life Investments
No. of stores and services	87
No. of anchor tenants	3
Total retail floor area	2

The Thistles Shopping Centre is located in Stirling, Scotland. The shopping centre caters for over 500 000 sq ft of retail, providing 87 units in total ^[1], since opening in 1977. ^[2]

Contents 1 Thistles Marches 2 Current Stores 3 Thieves Pot 4 References

[edit] Thistles Marches

A new phase, known as Thistle II Ltd was financed by three joint ventures being Stirling Council (49%), John Laing Property (49%) and DepFa Bank (2%). ^[3] A new 970 two storey car park, 14 stance bus station, 40 new units within the new phase and the creation of 400 jobs was the focus of the plans. ^[4] The Thistle Marches opened to the public in September 1997 retaining Stirling's importance as the major regional centre outwith the main cities.

Standard Life Investments eventually bought the entire shopping centre in 1998 for £37.2 million, at least a year after the Thistles Marches phase was complete. The company paid £8 million back to the financies for their contributions. ^[5]

[edit] Current Stores

The anchor stores are Debenhams, a 46,900 sq ft (4,360 m²)Marks and Spencer store ^[6] and Bhs. Other stores include Zara , River Island, Topshop, Game, Zavvi, HMV and Woolworths. A Burger King branch can be found adjacent to the Port Street entrance. ^[7]

[edit] Thieves Pot

The Thistles Shopping Centre is the only one in the world to have a replica 16th century jail with an extensive history of the Bastion's. The jail is of historical importance in Stirling, being used at one time to guard an angle of Stirling's Town Wall. ^[8]

[edit] References