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Wolverhampton will have a £300 million shopping centre within two years after the Government gave the Summer Row project its final seal of approval.
Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has ruled Wolverhampton City Council and Multi Development can forge ahead with the 85-store complex.
It will be anchored by Debenhams, boast a string of bars, restaurants and a 10-screen cinema and create 2,000 jobs.
Watch the video to see how the development will look.
The decision brings to an end a four-year battle to win approval for the showpiece development and means 72,000sq m of the city centre will now be made the subject of a compulsory purchase order to make way for it.
Rundown buildings in Snow Hill, Cleveland Street, Bell Street, Worcester Street, Victoria Street and Temple Street are expected to start being demolished within three months and up to 200 businesses will be forced to relocate.
Today regeneration chiefs and developers said the announcement signalled the dawn of a new era in the city centre and predicted 2008 would be a “momentous year” for Wolverhampton.
Traders facing eviction were told of the Government’s decision this morning.
Wolverhampton’s delighted regeneration and enterprise boss Councillor Peter Bilson today declared: “Summer Row will put us on the map.”
A public inquiry into the proposals was held between April and July last year, during which the council and developers Multi Development told a Government inspector the proposed centre was “vital” to the future prosperity of the city and that without it, Wolverhampton would struggle to compete with other areas such as Birmingham.
Paul Sargent, managing director of Multi Development UK, said it was hoped work, including an iconic landmark building, would start in late spring.
More reports in Tuesday’s Express & Star.
24 Comments
I think it looks great, and to be honest coming into Wolverhampton town is actually quite depressing, lets hope they re-locate the job centre place as there seems to be a lot of undesirables hanging around there lately and it certainly makes you feel on edge, especially when parking.
I cannot wait!
Just how much of the centre is covered with a roof?
The video is very pretty but the old Mander Centre and Wulfrun centre were open to the elements too and they were upgraded with a new roof on each.
I seems to be harking to the FOLDS heritage of the city… but I’d rather have a dry day shopping.
Take a look at Leicester’s new extension to the Shires… it’s amazing.
loook good but where you going to put that!
OK so far… Now what about Lichfield Street and the market… on which Wton’s prosperity was built and without which it ceases to be a centre!
It needs a roof!!
When did we last have a day when you could sit outside at a pavement cafe in sunny Wolverhampton?
Also, I hope it is more spacious than it looks on the video, it looks like a mugger’s delight to me with all those narrow walkways
Can the owners please promise us that there won’t be any more mobile phone or pound shops!!
Jacky
There’s at least two “listed” buildings in Victoria Street; the old ‘Lindy-Lou’ and the ‘Giffard Pub’. There could be more - what will become of them? Will both sides of Victoria Street be messed with?
1. Nice animation about it. Looked all very friendly and stuff.
2. Any space being allocated to people living in the area? No harm in getting some more city dwellings above shops is there? I thought we needed more housing?!
3. Little bit concerned that the video and lack of any counter-point to the plans from shopkeepers etc shows a rather obvious bias from the E&S. Okay, that’s nothing new I know but it would be nice to try and keep it objective folks.
i must say it looks nice but the video is missing the gangs of chaves and hoodeys and smack rats that will be robbing the place and its customers blind same as everywhere else in our sorry city!!!
A lot of shops are empty in Wolverhampton - so who is going to come?
Oh great - millions of pounds being spent on a city that will just become yet another soul-less shopping centre. Where is the culture - not everyone wants to shop!
If the Manders had not be allowed to knock down most of the historical buildings in Wolverhampton it would still have been a beautiful place to visit. Instead it is a run-down shopping centre where many undesirables hang out.
Let’s hope the government pull their finger out and get these people trained up so that they can work in the new development and contribute to the society in which they live - rather then dossing on the streets for a living!
..election coming up?
WATCH this space for all the people who work in wolverhampton when the works starts . i would not want to be trying to get in to the town centre.also the poor shops facing a demolition site for 3 years how much will you loose beacause its a fact who in there right mind will shop here with all this going on. so to me it does not sound as good as they all make out
just watched the video o its lovelly aint it.all this in 2 years i dont think so . so far its been 4 years sorting it out who are they joking
Great news! Glad that all those nasty, grubby, bargain basement shops and curry houses on Cleveland Street will be flattened. Looking at the video the majority of new shops are within covered galleries so shoppers won’t be subject to a bit of rain.
I worry about the lack of ambition of some of the population – the ones who morn the loss of pound shops, greasy spoon cafe’s and bargain basement chav jewellers. Yes it’s a shame for those who will be kicked out, but Summer Row will be for the benefit of the vast majority of locals and shoppers.
The businesses that will do well out of Summer Row are those which are already strong, popular and have a great reputation – Spice Avenue, Sevenoaks, DJ Heaven and White Mountain to name but a few. The too many shops, rather like the market, are from a bygone age – outdated and outmoded in a cool, image conscious retail/fashion world.
The complete lack of quality shops in the city has driven wealthy shoppers away from Wolverhampton to Telford, Birmingham and Solihull. Not building Summer Row would have created another Dudley town centre. It’s time to move on.
I’m just glad it’s the ugly concrete stuff that’s coming down. It probably would have fallen down anyway (like Pipers Row car park). The news showed a view from the air. Seeing how many old buildings have been preserved cheered me up.
I totally agree with Jimmi, we need to move on and update Wolverhampton. I think its a great idea. When I come back to Wolves from Holiday’s I always get depressed looking at the dreary City Centre. Emphasis on the City - that’s what we are supposed to be - not looking like Bilston High St!
I can’t beleive it’s taken so long to get this far!! There does seem to be a lack of covered areas but excellent video & a definite step in the right direction for an area of the city centre that is desperate for regeneration. I travel through it every day on the bus & it’s depressing! My thoughts are that Wolverhampton is seen as a city in decline, granted the Mander & Wulfrun Centre’s refits were fantastic & well needed but there’s still little to distinguish Wolverhampton (a city!) from places like West Bromwich or Dudley. Hopefully, this development will attract retailers & shoppers alike ‘do a bullring’ if you will! Plus, I think it’s great news that there’ll be a cinema in the centre again! Maybe I’m wrong but surely the whole point of regeneration is not only to provide new facilities for the people of the area but also to improve well-being & pride (something definitely lacking in today’s climate). I think this succeeds on all counts. My only reservation is there still seems to be no provision for the market. As PJW Holland quite rightly noted, without the market (which is in a steady decline), Wolverhampton cannot keep city status, it needs to be integrated more into the centre as a whole instead of an after-thought on the out-skirts.
The total plan is another council folly, and waiste of money. Who wants Debenhams, when our best store Beaties is being run down on a daily basis. What will be in the plan except the Big ‘D’ bars, resturants, charity shops or even cut price shops. Because thats whats Wolverhampton has become, a cut price shop City.
how long is it since tom shopped in the mander centre?
loads of shop are empty and to expensive to rent. If they are rented then its to a phone shop or card shop. Its the public like us that pay over the top prices for items from these centres . they have to charge you more to afford the rent and rate. soon all shopping will be done on the internet and we wont be able to have a look around the shops. As for the market the reason half of that is empty again the rents are to high. we soon wont be able to buy fruit and veg from them because they will have to raise prices to pay the rent. so who will win this war tesco.
terence i agree with you. it is a waste of money and energy. beaties is a good shop. if you look at the list the express and star published for parties intrested in the redevelpoment it is full of shops from wolverhampton relocating . so all there shops will be empty and by the look of it half the mander centre.
A couple of days ago there was TV coverage of Leicester market.
Leicester market looks very much like Wolverhampton market used to look… except Wton market was much larger. Remember the market covered the whole of what is now called St Peter’s Square, plus the bunker (oops Civic Centre) and more. Beyond it was the wholesale market.
Wolverhampton’s petty trots took on the market because they saw the small traders as people they could bully. They moved the market onto the disused brick kiln site and out of the centre ( and lost the City its popular fair ground site.
This caused the centre itself to try to move and resulted in the bankruptcy of the Coop, their own friends… the dereliction of Broad Street, Lichfield Street and Queen Street. If I were redeveloping Wton I would knock down the Mander Centre and remodel it more to resemble what went before albeit with shops along John’s Lane. Some things cannot be undone… but the Central and Queens Arcades could and should be rebuilt.
I think its great that this delapidated part of town is being given an overhaul. However Wolverhampton has become full of discount shops, which are full of market stall crap. All I can see happening is that the Mander Centre and Wulfrun centre will lose even more decent shops as they move to summer row.
Finally whats the point of building more shops with nowhere to park. We lost two large multi stories in Pipers Row and at the market; these have never been replaced. You can talk all you like about using public transport but the simple fact that any reversal like that is a very long way off. In the meantime you need shoppers to visit and they will only do that with ample eady parking which Wolverhampton seriously lacks.
Apparently 800 parking spaces are being built under the new centre which shold be great for that part of town.
I’m expecting Summer Row will be high end/designer names, Mander Centre/Dudley Street to be for middle of the road/high street fashion and the Wulfrun Centre for bargains and discounts.
i think summer row should have the go ahead because when i go into wolverhampton it looks a stete so i hope if they do get the go ahead then it will make wolverhampton a better place to be in from callum heath age 12