Castlepoint Shopping Centre

Castlepoint is a shopping centre in Strouden Park, Bournemouth, Dorset, in the United Kingdom, occupying a 41-acre (17 ha) site containing around 40 shops, including major retailers such as Marks & Spencer, New Look, H&M, Asda, Sainsbury's, and B&Q. It is situated 3 miles (4.8 km) north-east from the centre of town, off Castle Lane West on the former site of The Hampshire Centre.

Castlepoint
LocationStrouden Park, Bournemouth, Dorset, United Kingdom
Coordinates50°45′10″N 1°50′29″W
Opening date27 October 2003
DeveloperKier Group
ManagementCastlepoint Management
OwnerStandard Life Investments
No. of stores and services36 active
No. of floors2
Parking2 Levels with 3,000 spaces
Websitecastlepointshopping.com

History

The centre opened to the public on 27 October 2003, following a major redevelopment of the site, which had previously been occupied by The Hampshire Centre for around 35 years.[1][2] Construction of the centre, undertaken by Kier Group,[3] took over two years and cost some £275 million.[4] The annual Pancake Race takes place to raise money for good causes each year.

On 31 August 2022, it was reported by the Bournemouth Daily Echo that 50% of the shopping centre had been sold by shareholders.[5]

The Hampshire Centre, (19 October 2001)

Car park problems
Netting and props underneath the car park are still in place (May 2011)

Shortly after the centre opened, concerns about the condition of the car park came to public attention when B&Q was forced to temporarily cease trading while the safety of the car park was determined. In May 2005 temporary safety netting was erected in the lower deck area of the east car park and around 1,000 parking spaces were closed to the public after concrete fell from the roof.[6][7] By 26 May 2005, these parking spaces had re-opened, although the netting remained in place.[8]

On 1 December 2005, the car park was again closed to the public following further safety concerns.[9] This led to the temporary closure of all stores within the main site.[10] The stores within the East and West Village were unaffected by this closure and remained open, although parking for these stores was limited.[11] Whilst the centre was closed a free park and ride scheme was introduced to take shoppers to alternative shops within Bournemouth town centre.[12] Following repair work, the car parking spaces and stores in the main centre were re-opened to the public in a phased manner between 20 December 2005 and 13 February 2006.[13][14][15][16][17][18]

Although the car park was made safe with the insertion of props and the stores in the centre re-opened (and remain so), the longer term solution for rebuilding the carpark is still to be resolved.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27] In December 2014 the centre was given permission by the local council to rebuild the car parks in a phased manned over the next three years, due to be completed by Christmas 2018. The work is to be completed in 5 separate blocks to minimise disruption to shoppers and tenants.[28]

In 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the car park was still in the process of being rebuilt.[29] The new car park was completed in June 2023 and fully reopened. [30]

Retailers

Castlepoint has 40 stores and restaurants built over 645,000 square feet (59,900 m2) of retail space. Since opening in 2003, several stores have ceased trading at the centre such as Principles,[31] Virgin Megastores, Suits Direct, All Sports, Barratts, Choices Video and Lunn Poly (later Thomson). After the sale of Virgin Megastores in the United Kingdom, the stores were re-branded as Zavvi and after going into administration in 2009, had some of their sites sold to HMV, which operated the site at Castlepoint until 2013, following the closure of some HMV UK stores.

Castlepoint has a wide range of retailers including Sainsburys, TKMaxx, Robert Dyas, CeX, H&M, WHSmith, ASDA, B&Q, Clintons, Clarks, Waterstones, Superdrug, Marks and Spencer, Foot Locker, Accesorize, River Island, Mountain Warehouse, JD Sports, New Look, Boots, EE, Lakeland, The Entertainer, Barclays, NatWest and Easy Bathrooms.

There are also a handful of restaurants and places to eat at the site too. These include Caffe Nero, Costa Coffee, McDonald's, Starbucks, Five Guys, KFC, Nando's, Sainsbury's Café and M&S Café.

Four shops at the site at the site are currently empty as of January 2022. These shops are Argos, GAP and the Topshop retailers.

A branch of Mountain Warehouse opened in a larger store December 2022.[32] In 2023, Nike applied to pen a store in the former Gap unit.[33] In March 2023, Holland & Barrett will open a branch in the old Mountain Warehouse.[34]

Awards
  • 2005 Purple Apple Marketing Award for its Think Big! campaign.[35]
  • 2007 Safer Business Award.[36]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Castlepoint Shopping Centre.
  • Asda
    Asda
  • Marks & Spencer
    Marks & Spencer
  • TK Maxx
    TK Maxx
  • Robert Dyas
    Robert Dyas
  • 3 Store and Clinton Cards
    3 Store and Clinton Cards
  • Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Evans and Wallis
    Dorothy Perkins, Burton, Evans and Wallis
  • Clarks
    Clarks
  • Boots
    Boots
  • Next
    Next
  • Gap
    Gap
  • Props still in place under the car park (May 2009)
    Props still in place under the car park (May 2009)

References
  1. "Castlemore's shopping spree". Building Design. 13 July 2001. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  2. "Property news – More retailers commit to Bournemouth retail park". Retail Week. 1 November 2002. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  3. "Castelpoint: Who will pay?". Daily Echo. 25 August 2006. Retrieved 22 August 2012.
  4. "Bournemouth's £250m retail scheme opens". Property Week. 28 October 2003. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  5. "Castlepoint's 'tenant mix' to be reviewed after one of its owners sells its stake". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  6. "Safety probe at shopping centre". BBC News. 13 May 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  7. "Centre car park will reopen fully in days". Dorset Echo. 14 May 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  8. "Safety scare car park open again". BBC News. 26 May 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  9. "Centre may be shut over Christmas". BBC News. 1 December 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  10. "Bournemouth shopping centre shut over safety fears". Construction News. 2 December 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  11. "Car Park and Centre Closure". CastlepointBournemouth.co.uk. 4 December 2005. Archived from the original on 4 December 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  12. "Free bus replaces closed centre". BBC News. 9 December 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  13. "Safety scare car park to reopen". BBC News. 6 December 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  14. "Shopping centre reopening fears". BBC News. 13 December 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  15. "Shops set for partial reopening". BBC News. 16 December 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  16. "Troubled centre opens more spaces". BBC News. 29 December 2005. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  17. "One Castlepoint shop left to open". BBC News. 19 January 2006. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  18. "Solar gain weakens troubled car park beams". New Civil Engineer. 26 January 2006. Retrieved 12 November 2009.
  19. "Centre car park 'must be rebuilt'". BBC News. 9 May 2006. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  20. "Castlepoint: Car Park Rebuild stalls after rows". Bournemouth Daily Echo. 23 November 2006. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  21. "Centre car park rebuild for 2007". BBC News. 29 November 2006. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  22. "Castlepoint Repair Plan". Bournemouth Daily Echo. 31 May 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  23. "Parking mad". Building. 29 June 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  24. "No rebuild plan for Castlepoint in sight". Bournemouth Daily Echo. 28 December 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  25. "Solution to Castlepoint car park?". Bournemouth Daily Echo. 21 June 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  26. "Mall's well that ends well". Bournemouth Daily Echo. 26 October 2008. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  27. "Castlepoint Shopping Park – Car Park Progress Update". Standardlifeweb.co.uk. 31 May 2007. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  28. "Castlepoint car park repairs get go-ahead". BBC. 11 December 2014. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  29. "Castlepoint car park rebuild to continue despite coronavirus". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 10 May 2021.
  30. https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/23555991.castlepoint-car-park-reconstruction-finally-come-end/
  31. "Collapse brings 'first' for Castlepoint". Bournemouth Daily Echo. 6 March 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
  32. "Retailer opening its biggest UK store at Castlepoint this weekend". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 2 December 2022.
  33. "A GAP in Castlepoint could be filled in as an international brand is set to move in". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  34. "Castlepoint announces new 'exciting' shop is to open next month". Bournemouth Echo. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  35. "Purple Apple Marketing Award". Castlepointbournemouth.co.uk. 3 February 2006. Archived from the original on 6 January 2006. Retrieved 18 May 2009.
  36. "Safer Business Award for Castlepoint". brc.org.uk. 14 September 2007. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
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