Bullring eyes cinema addition as it celebrates tenth birthday
MANAGERS at Birmingham’s Bullring have outlined a month of celebrations to commemorate the shopping centre’s tenth anniversary and its success in transforming the city’s retail offering.
The centre opened its doors for the first time on September 4, 2003 and since then has become one of the UK’s most popular shopping centres attracting an average of 38m customers a year as well as some of the world’s leading brands.
During the past 10 years, Bullring has been visited by almost 400m people and 19.3m vehicles have used its three car parks. The 110,000m² scheme has become a desirable location for retail tenants including the likes of Apple (April 2005), Jamie Oliver’s ‘Jamie’s Italian’ (October 2010) and Forever 21 (November 2010) and is currently 99% let.
The past decade has seen a number of changes at the centre including the addition of the Bullring Link, which opened in 2004, and Bullring’s street of dining, Spiceal Street in 2011. Last month, sandwich store, Subway, opened a unit on the centre’s Middle West Mall and a new Virgin Media outlet opens today on the Lower Mall.
Tim Walley, General Manager at Bullring, who has been at the centre since opening day, said: “Bullring has given Birmingham a whole new identity demonstrated by the rise in Experian’s UK league table of top shopping destinations in 2003 (from 13th to 3rd) and today the city remains number three in England. I am proud of all we have achieved as a centre in the past ten years and look forward to the next 10.”
Developer Hammerson, which has recently extended its stake in the centre to 50% in a £313m, has already outlined its plans for the future of the centre, which could see the opening of a new cinema and additional restaurants.
David Atkins, Chief Executive of Hammerson, said: “Bullring was the first truly transformational large-scale regeneration project of a UK city centre which genuinely transformed the cityscape and we are extremely proud of the positive impact it has had on the wider city centre. With a decade of managing such an important scheme, we have proven we can attract leading domestic brands, expanding international retailers and first class catering to Birmingham and we see Bullring’s and Birmingham’s retail success continuing.”
Sir Albert Bore, Leader of Birmingham City Council, added: “I was honoured to officially open Bullring shopping centre ten years ago; it was a memorable occasion. I forecast then that it would mark the start of a new era for the city as a major retail and tourism destination, and despite difficult economic conditions the development has played a major part in the city’s continued renaissance. Bullring’s achievements over the last 10 years have boosted the pride that Birmingham people take in their city and I look forward to the next ten years of continued success.”
Research from Marketing Birmingham indicates that perceptions from within the UK of Birmingham have also changed with a rise of 13% of UK residents saying they now believe Birmingham is a great place for shopping (TNS Perceptions Survey* 2003 & 2013 – 45% in 2003 – 58% in 2013).
Birthday celebrations include a chocolate model of the We Are So City model, created by Cadbury World and the bull’s 10th birthday outfit. Girl band, The Saturdays, will be performing live for shoppers on Saturday September 28 as the finale to the celebrations.
