The Shires Shopping Centre is located in Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
Contents |
Excavations prior to the construction of the centre revealed evidence of Saxon occupation, including a church and graveyard dated to c. 850 AD, and remnants of the medieval castle.[1] Most of the area now covered by The Shires became the location of Trowbridge's woollen milling industry between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries. Central to the development is the last operating factory, Salter's Home Mill, which closed in 1982 and is now home to Trowbridge Museum.[2] The Shires and museum opened in 1990.[3]
Current tenants at the centre include Waterstone’s, Greggs, Iceland and various other shops. Outside the main entrance of the store is a large Asda. It includes a 1000-space car park. About 120,000 shoppers visit each week. The Iceland store was converted into a M&S Simply Food in 2006 but was reverted back into an Iceland in 2009.
The Shires was voted Wiltshire's best shopping centre for six years running by readers of a local newspaper.[4]
Outline planning permission was granted by West Wiltshire District Council in 2007 for the development of a site on Bythesea Road,[5] to be named "The Shires Gateway".[6] Full permission was granted in March 2008 and development started in summer 2008; the site was said to provide
"not only much needed retail but will also see a new pedestrian street and public courtyard linking Bythesea Road and Stallard Street with boutique shops and cafes on the ground level and offices and apartments above."
Fashion retailers Next and New Look, with footwear retailers Brantano were the first tenants,[7] with Brantano opening in August 2009 and Next and New Look in October 2009.[8] The remaining occupents are Boots Opticians, who moved their store from the main town centre, Argos Extra, who moved their store from The Shires, and 5th Avenue Coffee.