A TOWN centre shopping complex has yet to set a start date for a £50m extension – but has reported positive signs from many of its existing tenants.
Kingsgate owner WD Huddersfield Ltd won its battle to build an extension to the shopping centre last December after appealing against a decision by Kirklees Council to reject the plan.
But no start date has been set for work to start on the 120,000sq ft extension – dubbed Kingsgate 2 – which is intended to provide a department store, four shops, a restaurant and a cafe.
Kingsgate centre manager Jonathan Hardy said the company was “still minded” to provide the extension, but said: “We are waiting for the right opportunity. We want to see how quickly and how extensively the economy picks up before we make a commitment.”
Mr Hardy said Kingsgate was “doing pretty well” despite the impact of the recession the retail sector.
“Retailers who report to us say they are performing as well as – if not better – than their company averages,” he said.
“A large number of our retailers say their Kingsgate store is in the top 25% of their store ‘league tables’.
“We have only one vacant unit out of 50 and that compares pretty well with other shopping centres in the region and the country.”
Mr Hardy said: “We have a little way to go before we can say consumer confidence has returned.
“Interestingly, we have seen a drop-off in the number of people coming into the centre over the past 12 months, but we not seen a no drop-off in trade.
“That suggests that people are making fewer visits to the town centre, but those people coming into town are buying and retailers say they are spending slightly more.
“As a result, their average spend is slightly higher than it was last year.”
Mr Hardy said two smaller units at Kingsgate – one in the centre mall and the other on King Street – had been let recently as food outlets.
“There has been encouraging interest from small independent retailers, who see the opportunity of opening in the run-up to the return of Huddersfield’s student population and the later onset of the Christmas trading period,” he said.
The comments follow a report by Kirklees Council last month showing that one in eight shops in the town centre are empty.
But the council stressed that many of the empty spaces were small and that other northern towns were in a worse position.
While 13% of units were unoccupied, only 8% of total retail space in the town was out of use while the former Woolworths store on Victoria Lane was the only empty shop with more than 5,000sq ft of floor space.
The British Retail Consortium yesterday branded hopes for a recovery on the high street as “premature”.
The BRC said like-for-like sales fell by 0.1% last month with sales of clothing and footwear slipping back and sales of furniture and homeware faltering after a brief improvement.
