Leeds City Region retail investment surpasses £1bn mark with Victoria Gate

This week’s opening of the Victoria Gate shopping centre has taken investment in the Leeds City Region’s retail sector to more than £1bn in just five years, new analysis has revealed.

The £165m Victoria Gate shopping scheme is set to launch to the public on Thursday, October 20th.

Anchored by John Lewis’s northern flagship department store, Victoria Gate also features a further 30 high-end retail outlets from British and international brands.

The shopping centre will become part of the new Victoria Leeds retail district, which also includes the city’s Victoria Quarter arcades.

Since 2011, more than 2m sq ft of new retail space has been developed across Leeds City Region totalling investment of more than £1bn, the LEP’s research has found.

Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of the LEP, said “the eyes of the world were firmly focused” on Leeds City Region’s retail and leisure offer.

Mr Marsh added: “Leeds City Region undoubtedly stands out as a location that has enjoyed unrivalled rates of investment in recent years and is a truly world class destination for investment in the retail and leisure sector.

“Victoria Gate is a prime example of this with leading developer Hammerson, retail giant John Lewis and a plethora of aspirational brands committing to the City Region, many for the first time.

“Our own research reveals that more than £1bn has now been invested in retail across the City Region since 2011 and the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, alongside other key stakeholders, is playing a significant role in helping to attract the private sector to invest, develop, regenerate and locate here.

“It should be remembered that Leeds City Region has always held a prominent position in the retail sector thanks to established names such as Town Centre Securities.

“With the recent multi-million pound openings of the Broadway scheme in Bradford, Trinity Leeds, Wakefield Trinity Walk, Vangarde Shopping Park in York, and now Victoria Gate we are now, more than ever, not just one of the UK’s leading shopping destinations, but firmly established as one of Europe’s.”

Among other retail developments that are planned or underway in the region include:

• Castleford’s £135m Five Towns Park;
• The £20m transformation of the historic Piece Hall in Halifax;
• A cinema and leisure-focused extension at Wakefield Trinity Walk;
• A £13.7m cinema and 65,000 sq ft of new retail units at White Rose Shopping Centre;
• Next being named as the anchor tenant for Thorpe Park Leeds’ new 300,000 sq ft shopping and leisure park.