WANDSWORTH
Another area that has capitalised on its wealthy catchment is Wandsworth, where Land Securities and Delancey have been refocusing and extending the Southside Shopping Centre, which forms Wandsworth’s retail core. “The owners have raised the quality of the existing scheme. It has secured Debenhams, got a strong tenant mix and convenience element and it is able to attract the Wandsworth resident,” says Peter Courtney of Lunson Mitchenall. “Previously, Southside had local authority residential blocks above it and those residents were the main customers.” The centre has a cinema, restaurants including Rossopomodoro and
Wagamama and the all-important convenience store element in the form of a Waitrose. Retail and asset manager Helen McVie says: “We have spent a lot of time
refocusing the tenant mix. Southside was previously a value-led centre, which didn’t match the catchment.”
£275 per sq ft in 2010 to £300 per sq ft in 2012, according to Colliers International. East London’s Commercial Street is
another chosen location, where prime rents rose from £100 per sq ft in June 2011 to £180 per sq ft in June 2012. “The popularity of east London as a
retail destination has been on an upward trajectory for several years. East End landlords are able to take advantage of the low supply of flagship space in the West End and retailers’ desire to enter a trendier, edgier part of town at lower
KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES
Wealthy Kingston has continued to perform strongly, despite failed efforts to regenerate part of the retail core. According to figures from CBRE, 19.9% of Kingston’s catchment is made up of affluent urban neighbourhoods, compared with a national average of 3.5%, and the median age of the population is 35.8 against the national average of 37.6. “Kingston is the epitome of somewhere that is thriving despite the fact that
opportunities to make it better haven’t happened,” says Peter Courtney of Lunson Mitchenall. In 2010, Hammerson pulled out of plans to redevelop the Eden Quarter shopping
centre in Kingston after seven years of negotiation with the council for an enlarged retail scheme with residential units and a new bus station. British Land acquired Hammerson’s former 50% stake from USS last year, with USS retaining a 50% stake. The two companies, which have previously worked together to build the
Whiteley Shopping Centre in Hampshire, are expected to join forces on a redevelopment of the Eden Quarter. Nick Goodman, of Montagu Evans, says: “Kingston has critical mass. It operates as a sub-regional centre, far enough away from the West End not to be affected by it.”
13 April 2013
rental rates,” Colliers International said in its 2012 retail report. But elsewhere, less favoured shopping
centres and high streets are in a cycle of decline and the Greater London Authority last month published a report, which sets out the scale of the problem. It recorded 3,400 empty shops across
the London area – a 5% increase in two years – and proposed a series of recommendations for consideration by mayor Boris Johnson and local councils (see box).
GLA REPORT ON THE HIGH STREET
The Greater London Authority’s report, Open for business – empty shops on London’s high streets, says high vacancy levels, along with a preponderance of bookmakers, loan shops and pawnbrokers, create a self-perpetuating cycle of decline, putting off shoppers and discouraging other types of retailers from taking space. It blames the problem in part on
the fragmented ownership of high streets, giving Chatsworth Road in Hackney, where 80 shops are in 60 different ownerships, as an example. According to the report, the spread
of often absentee owners prevents joined-up efforts to revive high streets. Proposed measures to address the
problem of Greater London’s failing high streets include: l London-wide support to renegotiate rents
l An extension of small business rate relief paid for through a reduction in landlord’s rate relief on empty properties
l A new register of owners of vacant shops so landlords can be easily traced
l Changing planning rules so boroughs can address the rise in the number of pawnbrokers betting shops and payday loan shops
l Pop-up and interim uses for empty shops
l Co-ordinated management of high streets through business improvement districts
l Improving accessibility by foot, cycle and car. The report urges councils to prioritise turnover of spaces rather than seeking maximum income from car parks
l A new form of compulsory purchase order that allows a council or business improvement district to acquire the leases of empty shops
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