Kirkby town centre refurb gets underway

An eight-week project to deliver improvements to the centre of Kirkby, Merseyside, is now underway.

The site’s owner, regeneration firm St. Modwen, is working to enhance the appearance of the shopping precinct by replacing plaster work, painting first-floor windows, removing old fixtures, painting brickwork and columns and adding new greenery.

Birmingham-headquartered St. Modwen, which has an office in Warrington, has also welcomed three new tenants to St. Chad’s Parade – butchers Owens Quality Meat, beauty salon Kirkby Nails and food company European Deli.

Further, Greggs Bakery has signed a five-year lease for a unit in central Kirkby after giving the space a £100k makeover. Retailer B&M Bargains, meanwhile, it set to open a second store in the unit on St. Chad’s Parade that once housed the Co-Op.

Town centre manager Mike Matthews said: “We are delighted to welcome new and existing tenants to Kirkby town centre.

“Once the leases have been granted we hope to see new lettings fill the vacant units, bring a wider choice for shoppers and, in many cases, enable local businesses to grow and relocate to bigger premises.”

He continued: “Shoppers really welcome the changes we are making and are voting with their feet as footfall figures top 125k people visiting Kirkby town centre each week.

“The town centre is really popular with local people and we look forward to further developing the area, but equally important is improving the existing facility.”

St. Modwen acquired Kirkby town centre in November last year, appointing real estate company Colliers International to advise on the site’s ongoing development.

The company is proposing to create a new supermarket and around 100,000 sq ft of new retail space.