54
PRESTON HOTSPOTS
By Ged Henderson
CITY’S LUCKY ESCAPE
Preston was the latest stop on our tour of Lancashire’s hotspots. We brought business, local government and education leaders together at W_rkspace’s No.3 Fulwood business centre to discuss the issues that matter to them and the city
The collapse of the £700m Tithebarn redevelopment plan in 2011 was seen at the time as a catastrophic blow to Preston’s fortunes. Today it is seen as the city’s lucky escape.
Tithebarn, which would have seen widescale shopping and leisure facilities and a new bus station built in the city centre, was abandoned after department store John Lewis pulled out saying it was no longer financially viable.
The bombshell announcement left the city bruised and battered and facing an uncertain future. But what has risen from the ashes of the failed scheme is a complete rethink of Preston’s regeneration strategy.
It proved to be that lucky break. Today, more than a decade after Tithebarn’s demise, the wide-ranging raft of vibrant schemes and strategies that emerged as a result
are beginning to make an impact. Preston has a successful and growing city living plan and a clear vision for the historic Stoneygate area that is beginning to become reality. The transformation of the Harris Quarter includes the £45m Animate cinema and leisure development, currently coming out of the ground.
People in the city point out that none of this would have happened if Tithebarn hadn’t collapsed. They add that such a wide-scale retail- led scheme would be struggling today in the face of changing shopping habits and the mounting challenges facing the high street sector.
Preston city centre has its share of shuttered shops on its major shopping street, including the once-flagship Debenhams store and the long-closed BHS. However, there is a widespread feeling the situation would have been much worse if Tithebarn had gone ahead.
IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
Entrepreneur Rob Binns owns the Cotton Court business centre in the city and chairs Downtown in Business in the county. He is also on the board of the Preston Partnership. He describes the Tithebarn collapse as the city’s “happiest accident.”
He says: “If Tithebarn had happened Preston would have been awash with retail which in today’s environment would have almost decimated the city centre.”
Preston’s much lauded city living strategy may also not have materialised. Today there are growing signs of the appetite being shown by investors (see page 59).
Rob says: “What has emerged has been genuinely required. The leisure and retail offering, what is needed in office provision, it all wraps around what people actually need, rather than creating something and trying to shoehorn people into it.”
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