The Bridges is a shopping centre based in the city centre of Sunderland, 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...

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The shopping centre in Sunderland contains over 100 stores, which include; Boots, Burton, HMV, Debenhams

Debenhams

Debenhams plc is a British retailer operating under a department store format in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, and franchise stores in other countries. The Company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to around 160 shops...

, Disney, H&M

H&M

H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Swedish retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children....

, 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...

, Lush, USC

USC (store)

USC is a retail store that sells branded clothing across the United Kingdom. The first USC store opened in 1989 in Edinburgh and specialised in sports clothing. USC used to stand for United Sports Corporation and was founded by Angus Morrison and David Douglas...

, Next, TK Maxx, Schuh

Schuh

Schuh is a Scottish high street and internet branded footwear retailer, operating throughout the British Isles.-History:Schuh was established by Founding Director Sandy Alexander in 1981, with a single shop in North Bridge Arcade, Edinburgh. The company became part of the Glasgow-based Goldbergs...

, Waterstones, New Look, Topshop

Topshop

Topshop is a British clothes retailer with shops in over 20 countries and online operations in a number of its markets. Its sales come primarily from women's clothing and fashion accessories...

, River Island

River Island

River Island is one of Britain's best known high street fashion brands and can be found in most cities across the UK. The brand also has stores in Singapore, Turkey, Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Middle East.-History:...

, Monsoon

Monsoon Stores Ltd

Monsoon Accessorize is a design-led retailer based in London operating two international retail clothing chains - Monsoon and Accessorize.- History :...

, Ernest Jones, La Senza

La Senza

La Senza Corporation is a Canadian fashion retailer based in Dorval, Quebec, Canada, which sells lingerie and intimate apparel. The La Senza brand is currently owned by Limited Brands.- History :...

, Beaverbrooks

Beaverbrooks

Beaverbrooks is a British jeweller. Established in 1919, with the opening of its first store in Belfast and still a family-owned business, with direct descendants of the founders, ,the custodians.-Awards and recognition:Beaverbrooks staff are the most content in the country, according to the Sunday...

, Republic, Blue inc, Modelzone, Costa Coffee and many more. The centre also hosts two small supermarkets - Iceland and Tesco Metro. The centre receives over 26 million shopping visits every year.

The Bridges has two cafeteria seating areas: a large Greggs

Greggs

Greggs plc is the largest specialist retail bakery chain in the United Kingdom. It was established in the 1930s as a single shop but has approximately 1,500 outlets....

 food court and a smaller area operated by Esquires Coffee, both of which are located in the Market Square Mall.

The centre also has three car parks integrated into the centre, namely the Bridges (Debenhams) Car Park, the Central Multi-Storey, and the Rooftop.

The Bridges provides over 2,000 jobs to the people of Sunderland.

History

The Bridges was opened in 1988 by The Princess Royal

Anne, Princess Royal

Princess Anne, Princess Royal , is the only daughter of Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...

, as shown on a plaque opposite Thorntons, and is currently owned by Land Securities Group after they purchased the site in 1990.

In the year 2000 the centre was almost doubled in size, when the former Central Bus Station was demolished in favour of more shops. The city's main bus station moved to the Park Lane Interchange

Park Lane Interchange

Park Lane Interchange is a busy transport interchange on the south-western fringe of the city centre of Sunderland, North East England. It offers Tyne and Wear Metro services, long distance coach services and also local bus services. It is on the site of the Park Lane Bus Station that was built in...

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Land Securities were reported to be in talks with Sunderland City Council about the acquisition of the Crowtree Leisure Centre

Crowtree Leisure Centre

Crowtree Leisure Centre is an indoor sports centre based in the centre of Sunderland, England.The sports complex has a vast range of facilities and can accommodate many recreational sports such as football, Squash, snooker and Badminton among others...

 site once it closes, with the land being used to expand The Bridges or Marks and Spencer. Recent reports suggest that this deal looks unlikely for the foreseeable future after the Council decided to keep the Crowtree Centre open.

In September 2011 building work will begin on a new three storey Primark

Primark

Primark is a clothing retailer, operating over 223 stores in Ireland , the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Belgium...

store as an extension to the centre.