John Lewis, House of Fraser and Fenwick are all department store chains that will be actively targeted in the quest to find a prestigious anchor store for Chester’s proposed Northgate Development.
Cheshire West and Chester Council is driving a £300m iconic retail and leisure development in the city centre including a big name anchor store to drive footfall.
Dave Anderson, who as head of planning projects at CWaC has been tasked with delivering Northgate, said securing the right anchor store was “pivotal to the success of Northgate”.
He added: “John Lewis, House of Fraser and Fenwick are three of the names that are obvious targets. There will be active discussions with all of them. The important thing is to get the proposition right and get research information about the brands people want to see coming to Chester.”
He said it was “too early” to enter into discussions with potential investors in Northgate because they needed to know how many stores would be in the plan and how many were pre-let. Mr Anderson accepts the position of the anchor store, shown on the concept design as on the periphery of the scheme, will be reviewed and may change.
This week market traders in The Forum have been filling in a questionnaire to establish how many want to transfer to a new market hall and how many would rather leave and take compensation, leading to a feeling of insecurity and doubts over the authority’s commitment to their business.
Mr Anderson said consultation events revealed “a number” of the traders were in their 70s and would “rather hang up their boots” so it was sensible to plan ahead to understand how many wish to transfer across and the kind of facilities they will need.
He said: “The council is absolutely committed to the market and has an obligation under statue to have a market in Chester and the council wants it to be the best possible market. We want it to be a qualitatively better market so it becomes a destination in its own right.”
Mr Anderson shares concerns about managing the transition period when the new market hall is being constructed alongside the existing facility and bus services have been relocated.
“That will undoubtedly have to be managed in the most sensible way possible,” said Mr Anderson, who talked about encouraging customers to use the market and the possibility of providing a market shuttle bus to “get people there”.
