Bradford’s Broadway development sets opening date
BRADFORD’S much-anticipated retail centre, The Broadway, has been given the opening date of 5 November 2015.
This milestone has come as two of the sites anchor stores, Marks & Spencer and Debenhams, have been handed over to their retailers for internal fit-outs, and 70 other shops and restaurants are set for the site.
Construction on the retail centre began in early 2014, and developers say they expect city centre retail spend to increase to £1bn once the site is open, and create 2,500 jobs for the city.
The Broadway development had started in 2004, but stalled in 2008 during the recession, leaving a “massive hole” in the centre of the city.
Duncan Bower, director of development at Westfield Corporation said: “After years of hard work and crucial support from many sectors of the Bradford community, I am very pleased to announce an opening date for The Broadway of Thursday 5 November 2015.”
George Walsh-Waring, principal at Meyer Bergman, said: “Having anchor retailers Debenhams and Marks & Spencer alongside numerous other high-profile High Street brands in the centre highlights how The Broadway will bring a long-overdue boost to the retail offering in this part of Yorkshire.
“We are working closely with Westfield to ensure that there is an exciting mix of new retail, dining and leisure concepts in place when the centre opens its doors in November.”
Andrew Crooks, head of region for Yorkshire at Marks & Spencer, said: “It’s great to see the development nearing completion and we are looking forward to welcoming customers to the new store in The Broadway.
“The store will create a fantastic new shopping experience and we hope that customers will join us on the opening day to see all of the new and exciting features that we will be bringing to the city.”
Gareth Dougherty, property acquisitions manager at Debenhams, said: “Debenhams is very excited to be involved in The Broadway Bradford and we look forward to offering customers an extensive shopping experience with access to some of our top designer brands, such as Julien Macdonald, Jasper Conran and Betty Jackson to name a few. We look forward to the next stage of this exciting project.”
