Misplaced Pages

Drake Circus Shopping Centre: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editNext edit →Content deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 11:46, 12 January 2009 editHoary (talk | contribs)Administrators77,928 editsm Protected Drake Circus Shopping Centre: Excessive vandalism: Yes, but I invoke WP:BEANS. ( (expires 11:46, 12 July 2009 (UTC)) (expires 11:46, 12 July 2009 (UTC)))← Previous edit Revision as of 13:18, 12 January 2009 edit undoLustiger seth (talk | contribs)Edit filter managers, Administrators791 edits →External links: +drakecircus.comNext edit →
Line 49: Line 49:
{{Reflist}} {{Reflist}}


==External links== == External links ==
*<!-- Do not remove this link without discussion! -->
* *
* *

Revision as of 13:18, 12 January 2009

Shopping mall in Plymouth, UK
Drake Circus Shopping Centre
LocationPlymouth, UK
Coordinates50°22′20″N 4°08′16″W / 50.37222°N 4.13778°W / 50.37222; -4.13778
Address1 Charles Street,
Opening dateOctober 2006
DeveloperP&O Estates,
Morgan Stanley Bank
ManagementDTZ
OwnerMorgan Stanley Real Estate Fund (MSREF),
Kandahar Real Estate
ArchitectChapman Taylor
No. of stores and services48
No. of anchor tenants8
Total retail floor area654,000 square feet (60,758.6 m)
No. of floors3
Parking1270

Drake Circus Shopping Centre is in the centre of Plymouth, England. It is a 60,800 m² (654,000 ft²) covered shopping mall which opened in October 2006.

The new building, designed by London-based architects Chapman Taylor and built by Bovis Lend Lease and situated behind the ruined Charles Church, preserved as the city's civilian war memorial, has provoked a mixed reception. Just after it opened, the shopping centre won the 'Carbuncle Cup for crimes against architecture' for being the worst new building in the UK. However in 2007 it won two retail industry national awards, one of which was the Retail Week magazine's "Shopping Location of the Year". Also in 2007, the centre's management introduced a code of conduct which, like one the Bluewater centre controversially introduced in 2005, banned hooded tops and baseball caps.

History

File:Drake Circus circa. 1900.jpg
Drake Circus, circa. 1900

The term circus as used here refers to an open space, usually circular, where a number of roads meet (see, for example The Circus (Bath)). Drake Circus was originally a large oval roundabout built in the early years of the 20th century at the junction of four roads. The roundabout consisted of Edwardian buildings that housed shops, one of which carried the "Guinness Clock", which was visible to people travelling up Charles Street and was a landmark in the city of the time.

Some of these buildings were demolished in 1966-7 as part of the Plan for Plymouth, leaving an open roundabout. At this time the lower section of Tavistock Road to the north was renamed Drake Circus, and in the early 1970s, just to the south of the roundabout, a new two-level shopping centre with open malls was built around a large C&A store. This was also named Drake Circus.

Initial proposals to redevelop this mall in the early 1990s failed, but the developers, P&O Estates, tried again in the early 2000s. Plans were drawn up for a much larger centre, and after Allders signed up as the first "anchor" tenant in 2001, work started in February 2004 on demolishing the old centre and the adjoining Charles Street multi-storey car park.

The scheme suffered a setback in January 2005 when Allders went into administration. New tenants Next and Primark committed in 2005 and the building opened in October 2006.

On 3 February 2005 it was announced that the shopping centre had been sold by P&O Estates to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund for the sum of £55m. On 20 November 2006 it was announced that Kandahar Real Estate had taken a 50 per cent stake in the centre.

  • The old Drake Circus shopping mall was demolished in 2004. The old Drake Circus shopping mall was demolished in 2004.
  • Interior a few days after opening. Interior a few days after opening.
  • One of the entrances to the new shopping centre. One of the entrances to the new shopping centre.
  • Part of the contentious frontage behind the ruined Charles Church. Part of the contentious frontage behind the ruined Charles Church.

References

  1. ^ "Doors open at £200m complex". BBC. 2006-06-29. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  2. Christine Eade (2006-11-03). "Eade on: how sops make Plymouth rock". PropertyWeek.com. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  3. "Controversy over £200m shops plan". BBC. 2006-10-05. Retrieved 2007-10-13.
  4. Zoë Blackler (2006-10-13). "Bottom of the barrel - Carbuncles 2006". Building Design website. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  5. Tom Dyckhoff (2007-01-10). "The malling of our cities". The Times Online. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  6. "City mall wins location accolade". BBC News. 2007-03-03. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
  7. "Shopping centre ban on 'hoodies'". BBC News. 2007-03-12. Retrieved 2008-08-03.
  8. "Drake Circus As It Was (the Guinness Clock - 1960s)". BBC Devon. Retrieved 2007-11-09.
  9. Moseley, Brian (2008-06-25). "Guinness Clock". The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Plymouth Data. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  10. Hawkins, Michael (1988). Devon Roads. An illustrated survey of the development and management of Devon's highway network. Exeter: Devon Books. pp. 140–150. ISBN 0 86114 817 7.
  11. BBC archive films from 1966 and 1967 here (links under Archive Film on the left of the page)
  12. "More moves in city development plans". BBC. 2000-11-06. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  13. "Plymouth city centre revamp: Photos". BBC. 2004. Retrieved 2007-11-07.
  14. "Shopping centre set to lose store". BBC News. 2005-02-11. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  15. "P&O sells DrakeCircus shopping centre development to Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund for £55m". Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Retrieved 2007-11-05.
  16. "Carphone tycoon buys into Plymouth centre". Shopping Centre magazine. Retrieved 2007-11-11.

External links

Categories: