Ropewalk Shopping Centre
Encyclopedia
The Ropewalk Shopping Centre is a shopping centre
in Nuneaton
, Warwickshire
, England
. It has a glass roof not connected to the building, two floors retail stores, including high street retailers, and also a car park
.
For many years, the Queens Arcade was ageing and needed replacing, with many store units lying vacant or occupied by small, independent businesses.
In 2001, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council
decided to replace the arcade with a new shopping centre. An early design of a shopping centre with three floors, a bowling alley and a cinema was rejected by the Council, who in turn accepted a plan to build a Cinema and Bowling Alley in Bermuda Park, Nuneaton.
However in 2003 and another redesign to the plan, a new scheme was submitted and received planning consent from the council. It included the plan to demolish the Queens Arcade for an all new modern shopping centre to be erected on land which was covered by the Queens Arcade and the Dugdale Car Parks and see the Shopping Centre slicing Dugdale Street in half. The project cost £60 million and was constructed between 2004 and 2005. The Main Shopping Centre also saw a 5 Storey 500 car parking spaces Car Park build next to it which is run by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, this was built first to compensate the loss of car parking spaces due to the Shopping Centre's construction.
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council owns the site that the Centre was built on and has the site leased out for 150 years.
The centre has now been trading since 1 September 2005 and has helped in regenerating Nuneaton. One major contract, which the Ropewalk helped bring to Nuneaton, was the arrival of American coffee giant Starbucks
. The coffeehouse opened its outlet (next to Marks and Spencer) on 4 June 2007. However, its tenure was short-lived and Starbucks left Nuneaton in 2009.
In 2008 and 2009, The Ropewalk lost main business as the recession took hold, with Woolworths and Barratt Shoes closing up their stores, Blue Inc took over Barratt's Unit but the Woolworths Store was left empty.
In January 2010, the Bank of Ireland took control of the shopping Centre after previous owners called Broadway Capital owned by Irish Investor and Property Developer John McCann were liquidated with debts of up to £64 million, most of that money was owed to the BOI.
BTW Shields was appointed by the Bank to run the Shopping Centre on its behalf, however this new management has stressed that the Shopping Centre is open for business as usual.
The Bank of Ireland said they will run the Shopping Centre for the moment before selling it off.
July 2010 saw the Woolworths Unit taken over by TJ Hughes, who struck a deal with the owners of the Unit, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council to redevelop the site and create 200 jobs, giving the Ropewalk a boost with the Store set to open in October 2010 and across 2 Floors.
There is criticism over the way the shopping centre is built.
During bad weather, the staff put out buckets around the shopping centre to avoid major puddles of water being created by the leaky roof, which is because the glass roof is not connected to the building. This problem is due to poor design, which has been criticised by shoppers.
Shopping mall
A shopping mall, shopping centre, shopping arcade, shopping precinct or simply mall is one or more buildings forming a complex of shops representing merchandisers, with interconnecting walkways enabling visitors to easily walk from unit to unit, along with a parking area — a modern, indoor version...
in Nuneaton
Nuneaton
Nuneaton is the largest town in the Borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth and in the English county of Warwickshire.Nuneaton is most famous for its associations with the 19th century author George Eliot, who was born on a farm on the Arbury Estate just outside Nuneaton in 1819 and lived in the town for...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It has a glass roof not connected to the building, two floors retail stores, including high street retailers, and also a car park
Parking lot
A parking lot , also known as car lot, is a cleared area that is intended for parking vehicles. Usually, the term refers to a dedicated area that has been provided with a durable or semi-durable surface....
.
History and impact
The Ropewalk Shopping Centre started life as the Queens Arcade.For many years, the Queens Arcade was ageing and needed replacing, with many store units lying vacant or occupied by small, independent businesses.
In 2001, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council
Nuneaton and Bedworth
Nuneaton and Bedworth is a local government district with borough status, in northern Warwickshire, England, consisting of the densely populated towns of Nuneaton and Bedworth, the village of Bulkington and the green belt land in between. It has a population of just over 120,000.It borders the...
decided to replace the arcade with a new shopping centre. An early design of a shopping centre with three floors, a bowling alley and a cinema was rejected by the Council, who in turn accepted a plan to build a Cinema and Bowling Alley in Bermuda Park, Nuneaton.
However in 2003 and another redesign to the plan, a new scheme was submitted and received planning consent from the council. It included the plan to demolish the Queens Arcade for an all new modern shopping centre to be erected on land which was covered by the Queens Arcade and the Dugdale Car Parks and see the Shopping Centre slicing Dugdale Street in half. The project cost £60 million and was constructed between 2004 and 2005. The Main Shopping Centre also saw a 5 Storey 500 car parking spaces Car Park build next to it which is run by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, this was built first to compensate the loss of car parking spaces due to the Shopping Centre's construction.
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council owns the site that the Centre was built on and has the site leased out for 150 years.
The centre has now been trading since 1 September 2005 and has helped in regenerating Nuneaton. One major contract, which the Ropewalk helped bring to Nuneaton, was the arrival of American coffee giant Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...
. The coffeehouse opened its outlet (next to Marks and Spencer) on 4 June 2007. However, its tenure was short-lived and Starbucks left Nuneaton in 2009.
In 2008 and 2009, The Ropewalk lost main business as the recession took hold, with Woolworths and Barratt Shoes closing up their stores, Blue Inc took over Barratt's Unit but the Woolworths Store was left empty.
In January 2010, the Bank of Ireland took control of the shopping Centre after previous owners called Broadway Capital owned by Irish Investor and Property Developer John McCann were liquidated with debts of up to £64 million, most of that money was owed to the BOI.
BTW Shields was appointed by the Bank to run the Shopping Centre on its behalf, however this new management has stressed that the Shopping Centre is open for business as usual.
The Bank of Ireland said they will run the Shopping Centre for the moment before selling it off.
July 2010 saw the Woolworths Unit taken over by TJ Hughes, who struck a deal with the owners of the Unit, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council to redevelop the site and create 200 jobs, giving the Ropewalk a boost with the Store set to open in October 2010 and across 2 Floors.
There is criticism over the way the shopping centre is built.
During bad weather, the staff put out buckets around the shopping centre to avoid major puddles of water being created by the leaky roof, which is because the glass roof is not connected to the building. This problem is due to poor design, which has been criticised by shoppers.