Broughton Shopping Park (), also known as Broughton Centre (), is a
retail park in
Broughton,
Flintshire,
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...
. It is the busiest retail park in
North Wales
, area_land_km2 = 6,172
, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
, recording an average annual footfall of 10 million. Branches of many popular high street stores have an outlet in the park. Retail outlets include
Asda Living
Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...
,
Primark
Primark Stores Limited (; trading as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. The Penneys brand is not u ...
and
SportsDirect. The retail park hosts facilities which include: free car parking for over 2,000 cars, ATMs, toilets, and baby changing areas. It is located opposite the
Airbus
Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace manufacturer, aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft througho ...
factory on Chester Road (A5104), 4 miles west of
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
city centre, and 400 metres from the
England-Wales border
England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Engl ...
.
In addition to shopping venues, the retail park is host to numerous outlets for food and drink with the Mill House Pub also on the site. A
Cineworld
Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irela ...
multi-screen
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
cinema opened in 2015, alongside restaurants including
Frankie and Benny's
Frankie & Benny's (now trading as Frankie's) is a chain of Italian-American-themed restaurants in the United Kingdom run by The Restaurant Group. , it had 90 outlets nationwide.
History
In 1924, at the age of 10, Frankie Giuliani left Sicily wit ...
,
Nandos, and
Prezzo
Prezzo (german: Pretz) is a ''frazione'' of the commune of Pieve di Bono-Prezzo, in Trentino, northern Italy, located about southwest of Trento
Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, ...
.
Every year, a jobs fair is held at the shopping park, with the most recent hosted in October 2021.
History
The shopping park was built on land between Bretton Road, Chester Road, and Bretton Lane. The eastern end was originally farmland and the western end (between Bretton Road and Chester Road) was
Mold Railway
The Mold Railway was a railway company that built a line in north-east Wales. The line linked Mold to Chester and it opened on 14 August 1849. The company built a mineral branch line to Ffrith, opened in November 1849. Mold itself was an impor ...
between 1849 and 1983. The Mill House pub and McDonald's are sited on the former railway route.
Opening
The Broughton Park shopping centre opened in June 1999 with 300,000 square feet of shops. It opened to provide an alternative for the local population in north-east Wales, which had previously looked almost entirely to Chester for its main shopping facilities, such as those present in Chester city centre, and
Cheshire Oaks (opened in March 1995).
The arrival of a new shopping area was a welcomed addition for the local community, and it was officially opened by
Emmerdale star
Malandra Burrows, it employed just under 1,000 people and was only home to 16 retailers, including Soccer Sports (now Sports Direct),
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
,
WH Smith
WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...
,
Clarks and
Next
Next may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare
* ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage
* '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film
Lit ...
, all of which are still present in the park .
British Land management
In 2007,
British Land began managing the Centre and works to improve the park started in 2014.
A leisure development of the park was completed in 2015, including the opening of the first IMAX cinema (with 11 screens) in North Wales and five restaurants, including:
Chiquito, and Prezzo opening in 2014, and
Pizza Express, and Nando's in 2015.
In 2016, one of the region’s biggest and Primark's 300th store opened, alongside
M&S Foodhall, and
Outfit
Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...
. In the same year, major refurbishment works were launched, the works included refurbishing the park's; public areas, car parks and shop fronts (with new canopies and double height glazing).
In 2017,
The Body Shop,
JD Sports
JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as JD Sports or JD, is a British sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Pentlan ...
,
EE, the former
Toys R Us, and
Foot Asylum's first North Wales store opened. The improvements works concluded in 2017.
The park today has grown to host 38 retailers, across over 365,000 sq ft, it employs more than 2,000 people and attracts 10.5m visitors a year. In June 2018, a report published by British Land, conducted by Regeneris, reported that Broughton Centre, contributed £53m to Flintshire's economy in
Gross value added (GVA)
In economics, gross value added (GVA) is the measure of the value of goods and service (economics), services produced in an area, industry or sector of an economy. "Gross value added is the value of output minus the value of intermediate consumptio ...
over a one-year period.
In June 2019, to mark its 20th anniversary, the park announced that it would support 20 good deeds throughout the local area to celebrate its milestone anniversary, with the park calling on residents to nominate local good deeds to make the list.
Alan Barker, centre manager at Broughton Shopping, said: “Community is hugely important to us, so it’s brilliant to mark the milestone by supporting a worthy cause for each year we’ve been around. Although many retailers have been here since we opened, the centre is still unrecognisable from the one which launched back in 1999. In the past few years especially, we’ve gone from strength to strength to become one of the region’s leading leisure destinations."
In March 2020, plans to bring a 24-hour gym to Broughton Shopping Park were approved.
Pure Gym
PureGym Limited is a British chain of no frills health clubs based in the United Kingdom with multiple gyms around the world. The chain is headquartered in Leeds, West Yorkshire, with additional offices in London and Southampton.
It is Brita ...
, the UK’s largest gym chain, submitted proposals for a new 1,069 m
2 facility to
Flintshire Council in January 2020, the company’s application was approved in March and will see the premises vacated by
Nike after its store closed in June 2019, to be newly occupied by Pure Gym. The gym would be the second Pure Gym in North Wales, after
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
's Central retail park.
During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, the park (''excluding supermarkets'') were shut in late March 2020, and following
Welsh Government
The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...
guidelines, re-opened in stages, in June, July and August 2020. The effects of the pandemic on the park's tenants are still uncertain.
In November 2021,
Sam Rowlands, an
MS for
North Wales
, area_land_km2 = 6,172
, postal_code_type = Postcode
, postal_code = LL, CH, SY
, image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg
, map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...
, called for the Welsh Government to make improvements to the slip road junction 36a of the A55, which only connects the shopping park with traffic from the east from Chester and
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
. Rowlands stated improvements to the route from the west, which goes through the village of Broughton, should be made. The government stated it would not make changes to the junction and would instead focus on alternative ways to travel to the shopping park to address
climate change
In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...
.
Cross-border concerns
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a national
lockdown order was issued across the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
in March 2020, closing the entire centre aside essential shops such as Tesco. As the centre resides in Wales, the timing and eventual order for a staged reopening of shops and restaurants were the responsibility of the Welsh Government. Orders to reopen in England were given earlier than in Wales, so the park remained closed. However, the reverse occurred in November 2020, whereas following a
short 2-week "firebreak" lockdown starting in October 2020, Wales started re-opening again on 9 November, merely a few days after
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
began its
second national lockdown.
Concerns were raised over
policing
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
in the park and whether the responsibility would be increasingly pressured onto retail workers, and the centre's location on the border, made it a large concern for the Welsh Government, with North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Arfon Jones, fearing English shoppers from
North West England
North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
would increase
transmission
Transmission may refer to:
Medicine, science and technology
* Power transmission
** Electric power transmission
** Propulsion transmission, technology allowing controlled application of power
*** Automatic transmission
*** Manual transmission
*** ...
of
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
in the
local area and Flintshire as a whole, with him saying "It’s going to have implications for policing in North Wales because I think people will be tempted to cross the border to pop into Wrexham for a drink or go to retail centres like Broughton Shopping Park". The November 2020 situation re-occurred in March 2021, when the Welsh Government announced some non-essential businesses can reopen from 15 March 2021, earlier than England's scheduled date on 12 April, with a message of "stay local" being raised to address cross-border concerns.
Stores
The park is home to the following stores, as of January 2022:
Shopping
*
Asda Living
Asda Stores Ltd. () (often styled as ASDA) is a British supermarket chain. It is headquartered in Leeds, England. The company was founded in 1949 when the Asquith family merged their retail business with the Associated Dairies company of York ...
*
Boots
**
Boots Pharmacy
Boots UK Limited (formerly Boots the Chemists), trading as Boots, is a British health and beauty retailer and pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom and other countries and territories including Ireland, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Thailand an ...
*
Card Factory
Card Factory is a retailer of greeting cards and gifts in the United Kingdom founded in Wakefield by Dean Hoyle and his wife Janet. The first store opened in 1997, and by 2020 the company had over 1,000 stores. The company also operates two ...
*
Clinton Cards
Clintons, previously branded as Clinton Cards, is a chain of stores in the UK founded in 1968 by Don Lewin and known for selling greeting cards, together with soft toys and related gift products.
It was listed on the London Stock Exchange a ...
* Clogau
*
H&M
*
HomeSense
*
M&S Foodhall
* Nail Box
*
New Look
*
Next
Next may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare
* ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage
* '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film
Lit ...
*
Primark
Primark Stores Limited (; trading as Penneys in the Republic of Ireland) is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. It has stores across Europe and in the United States. The Penneys brand is not u ...
*
River Island
*
Specsavers
*
Superdrug
Superdrug Stores plc (trading as Superdrug) is a health and beauty retailer in the United Kingdom, and the second largest behind Boots UK. The company is owned by A.S. Watson (Health & Beauty UK) Ltd which is part of the A.S. Watson Group. It ...
*
Tesco Extra
*
The Body Shop
*
The Entertainer An entertainer is a person who entertains (singer, actor, comedian, etc.)
The Entertainer may refer to:
Music Songs
* "The Entertainer" (rag), a 1902 classic piano rag written by Scott Joplin
*"The Entertainer", rearrangement of the Joplin rag by ...
* The Fragrance Shop
*
WH Smith
WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...
Food and Drink
*
Chiquito
*
Costa Coffee
*
Frankie & Benny's
Frankie & Benny's (now trading as Frankie's) is a chain of Italian-American-themed restaurants in the United Kingdom run by The Restaurant Group. , it had 90 outlets nationwide.
History
In 1924, at the age of 10, Frankie Giuliani left Sicily wit ...
*
McDonald's
McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
*
Mill House Inn
*
Nando's
Nando's (; ) is a South African multinational fast casual chain that specialises in flame-grilled peri-peri style chicken. Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando's operates over 1,200 outlets in 30 countries. Their logo (also seen as a sort of ...
*
PizzaExpress
*
Prezzo
Prezzo (german: Pretz) is a ''frazione'' of the commune of Pieve di Bono-Prezzo, in Trentino, northern Italy, located about southwest of Trento
Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, ...
*
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain.
As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
*
Tim Hortons
Tim Hortons Inc., commonly nicknamed Tim's, or Timmie's is a Canadian multinational coffeehouse and restaurant chain. Based in Toronto, Tim Hortons serves coffee, doughnuts, and other fast-food items. It is Canada's largest quick-service rest ...
Footwear and Sport
*
Clarks
*
Footasylum
*
JD Sports
JD Sports Fashion plc, more commonly known as JD Sports or JD, is a British sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Pentlan ...
*
SportsDirect.com
Services
*
BT &
EE
* Groom Lounge Barbershop
*
Hays Travel
Hays Travel Limited is an independent travel agent chain headquartered in Sunderland, England. According to recent statistics, the company has the largest number of retail travel shops in the United Kingdom. As an independent agent, Hays Travel ...
*
O2
*
Regus Express
*
TUI Holiday Store
Entertainment
*
Cineworld
Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irela ...
**
IMAX
IMAX is a proprietary system of high-resolution cameras, film formats, film projectors, and theaters known for having very large screens with a tall aspect ratio (approximately either 1.43:1 or 1.90:1) and steep stadium seating.
Graeme F ...
**
4DX
4DX is a 4D film format developed by CJ 4DPlex, a subsidiary of South Korean cinema chain CJ CGV. It allows films to be augmented with various practical effects, including motion-seats, wind, strobe-lights, simulated-snow, and scents. First in ...
Tim Hortons opened their first drive-through store in Wales at the centre, taking over the previously occupied
Carphone Warehouse
The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Ca ...
unit.
Impact
A report released by the owners British Land, conducted by independent economics consultancy, Regeneris, in June 2018,
detailed the impact Broughton Centre has had on the local Broughton-Bretton community and the wider Flintshire-
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
area, the report's findings are:
Infrastructure
From 2014 to 2017, British Land invested over £24 million into improvements and new developments of the centre.
Economic
Broughton Centre provides 1,900 jobs, in which 1 in 4 are in the retail sector, and 1 in every 40 jobs in Flintshire is supported by Broughton Centre. At the centre's annual jobs fair in 2017, 1000+ attendees were present, in which 60% gained employment at the site.
£53 million in GVA, was contributed to the Flintshire economy each year, with the contribution to all of Wales being £84 million. £6.7 million is collected annually in business rates by Flintshire County Council from the park, 10% of all business rate collection in Flintshire.
66% of goods and services provided to Broughton Centre is provided by local businesses, £462,000 of the centre's expenditure goes to local businesses within a 25-mile radius, in 2017.
Community
It is reported that 994+ school pupils benefited from the centre's Young Readers programme with the
National Literacy Trust since 2013, £91,000+ has been invested into the Broughton community since 2015 and £30,000+ has been raised through fundraising initiatives for charitable causes, from customers at the centre.
Customer
The report estimates that 10.5 million people visit the centre, annually, with an average of 200,000 visitors per week. Of these customers, 96% would recommend the site to a friend, with staff, safety, security, and cleanliness scoring over 4.7/5.
Support
The staff at the centre are reported to have undergone dementia-friendly training, to ensure a "safe and welcoming environment for all visitors, especially those who may be vulnerable".
Environment
99% of construction waste during the centre's refurbishment and construction of Cineworld, was diverted from a landfill, with over 40,000 tonnes being re-used and recycled since 2013. 99% of managed waste from the centre, is reported to have also been diverted from a landfill. Since 2015, almost 400 tonnes of managed waste has been re-used and recycled from the centre's tenants.
Since 2009, the centre saved 21% of their energy usage, reducing the centre's carbon emissions by over 300 tonnes, and saving retailers £42,000 on energy.
Notes
References
{{Flintshire
Buildings and structures in Flintshire
Retail parks in the United Kingdom
Tourist attractions in Flintshire
Retail parks in Wales