HOTSPOTS PRESTON By Ged Henderson IN ASSOCIATION WITH:
A CULTURED APPROACH
The opening of Animate
Our continuing tour of Lancashire brought us to Preston and the Argento Lounge in the new Animate leisure complex to discuss city centre investment plans and their impact on the local economy
Preston is getting animated about its future. The city is hoping its new £45m cinema and leisure destination will act as a catalyst for more regeneration and revival.
Animate, many years in the making, has been built on the former indoor market and car park site and is fully owned by the city council.
Hundreds of people came to the city centre in February to see the complex opened by Preston legend Nick Park, the Oscar-winning film-maker and creator of Wallace and Gromit.
The flagship scheme, with its cinema, bowling alley and range of restaurants and bars, sits opposite Preston’s Market Hall, which benefitted from an earlier facelift as part of the wider £200m Harris Quarter regeneration masterplan.
The aim is to improve Preston’s cultural and leisure offer further increasing both footfall and spend in the city.
It is a plan that is starting to deliver. The Harris, the city’s iconic cultural landmark, which closed in 2021 for a major £19m restoration, will
reopen in late September with new galleries and community facilities.
It will be followed later in the year by the opening of the city’s Vault Youth Zone, currently under construction on a site opposite the bus station, another iconic city centre building that has had a facelift.
developer Praxis has revealed its plans to submit a planning application to breathe new life into St John’s Shopping Centre.
It will include more than 500 apartments designed for modern city living, along with commercial spaces for retail, food and beverage, or leisure uses.
We are seeing positive change in Preston. The city
council’s desire is for Animate to become something of a catalyst and we are already seeing its impact. I feel that things are turning in the city’s favour
Updated plans for the £9m transformation of historic Amounderness House into modern flexible workspace have now been approved. Built in 1857 as a police station, before becoming a magistrates’ court, 26 offices and studios plus meeting and event space will be created.
And in the latest piece of regeneration news, SUPPORTED BY:
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The developer says: “The scheme aims to deliver a high-quality, welcoming environment that reflects civic pride and provides a vital link between key regeneration sites including the Harris Quarter, the covered markets, and the Animate leisure scheme.”
Continued on Page 28
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