Express & Star Comment: Mander Centre manager can improve whole city

In that time we have seen the city rise and fall, experience boom times and bad times. Businesses have come and gone. The landscape has changed beyond measure, for better and worse.

The one constant for close to 50 years has been the Mander Centre. And we believe that, under the new stewardship of Robert Gough, our city might be well on the way to getting a retail complex befitting our status.

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Mr Gough brings with him attributes that the Mander Centre overhaul sorely needs – enthusiasm, drive, a desire to see footfall through city centre shops.

When a city's centre thrives, when it has high-quality retail establishments that people want to visit and spend time (not to mention money) in, the knock-on effect is felt throughout the city as a whole.

And it's clear that, although it is the shopping centre that falls under his jurisdiction, Robert Gough is looking to see how he can improve the whole city.

When he says that it breaks his heart to hear that people don't see central Wolverhampton as a shopping location, you can tell that this is a man on a mission.

It's a simple fact that Wolverhampton needs, and deserves, a premium retail location. And yet, to the untrained eye, it has it all – a compact central location for the centre, close to a major travel route, bus and coach station and university campus.

Yes, we have Bentley Bridge. But if you want to walk to Bentley Bridge from the train station or the bus station, be sure to take a packed lunch.

We should have somewhere that can compete on a level playing field with Merry Hill, in the heart of the city, and Mr Gough's vision for the Mander Centre is just that. Big names, desirable chains, the kind of establishments for which one would normally have to travel to Birmingham.

The arrival of Debenhams is a huge coup, and when Mr Gough speaks of other company area managers 'upping their game' and sniffing around the Mander Centre, then shopaholics' mouths will start to water. And he is listening to the wishes of the public, and the stores they would like to see. The Mander Centre, it is apparent, will be a retail centre for the people, by the people.

Robert Gough, we believe, is the man to take the Mander Centre, and by extension the city of Wolverhampton, into a bright future.