Bon Accord Centre
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The Bon Accord centre is the second-largest
shopping centre A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre ( Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known colle ...
complex in
Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
,
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
and serves a large catchment area including the city and surrounding Aberdeenshire. The centre was constructed as two separate entities: the ''St. Nicholas Shopping Centre'' in 1985 and the adjacent ''Bon Accord Shopping Centre'' in 1990. Since opening, they have formed one of the most dense retailing areas in Aberdeen, having merged in the early 2000s. The two centres were co-branded until 2018 when the St. Nicholas name was dropped in favour of a unified brand across the property.


Layout

The centre is split into two buildings which effectively join the shopping streets of George Street and Union Street. It has three floors extending to . Parking is attached with around 1700 spaces. The Bon Accord centre was built in a serpentine shape to maximize shop unit frontage and is covered by a barrel vaulted glazed roof with a high glazed dome. The former St. Nicholas has a more dated, straight-through design with a mostly concrete
urban open space In land-use planning, urban green space is open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces", including plant life, water features -also referred to as blue spaces- and other kinds of natural environment. Most urban open spaces are ...
on its roof, along with little-used first-floor entrances to some of the businesses. The northern entrance of the centre is located across the street from a former
John Lewis & Partners John Lewis & Partners (formerly and commonly known as John Lewis) is a brand of high-end department stores operating throughout the UK, with concessions also located in the Republic of Ireland and Australia. The brand sells general merchandis ...
department store, and the store is connected to the centre via a bridge on the first floor. The John Lewis department store opened on 4 October 1989 and closed in 2020. The bottom floor of the John Lewis department store was subsequently used as a vaccination centre.


History

Work began on the St. Nicholas centre on 26 October 1983, when the
foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...
was laid by the then Lord Provost of the city, Alexander C Collie. During construction, two coin hoards were uncovered, amassing around 7000 coins valued at the time at £35,000. The centre was officially opened on 3 October 1985 by Lord Provost Henry Rae with total retail space covering . The first store,
Miss Selfridge Miss Selfridge is a British fashion brand and former high street store chain which began as the young fashion section of Selfridges department store in London in 1966. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, which we ...
, opened its doors three months earlier on 4 July 1985. The Bon Accord centre opened five years later in 1990. In 2003,
British Land The British Land Company plc is one of the largest property development and investment companies in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust when REITs were introduced in the UK in January 2007. It is headquartered in ...
purchased the entirety of the St. Nicholas centre for £31 million, previously 40% owned by BL Universal (a joint venture between British Land and GUS plc.) with the remaining 60% held by a
pension scheme A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
. On 18 March 2004, British Land and
Land Securities Land Securities Group plc is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust (REIT) when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is ...
(owner of the Bon Accord centre) announced they had formed a 50/50 joint venture, the "Scottish Retail Property Limited Partnership", bringing together the two centres under one management. Shortly after, the newly unified centre started using the dual-branded name ''Bon Accord St. Nicholas Shopping Centre''. Many significant brands have been residents of the centre over the years, such as C&A,
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 us ...
, and Woolworths, with competition particularly increased with the opening of the nearby
Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...
shopping centre in October 2009. Bon Accord and St. Nicholas added several stores in the years that followed, including many brands not previously present in Aberdeen. On 6 August 2009,
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 ...
opened its largest Scottish store (). This includes 300 new car parking spaces (accessed from the current Loch street car park), and a new shop frontage onto the Gallowgate. The store is three times the size of the old stores in the St. Nicholas part of the centre. On 22 August
Topshop TOPSHOP (originally Top Shop) is a British fashion brand for women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, but went into administration in late 2020 before being purchased by ASOS o ...
/
Topman Topman is a UK-based multinational men's fashion retail brand founded by Burton Group (later renamed Arcadia Group) in 1978. Along with its women's clothing counterpart Topshop and the rest of Arcadia Group, Topman went into administration i ...
opened a new store, and
River Island River Island is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores and online. Best known for its trend focused womenswear offering, River Isl ...
also opened an store within the old Woolworths and Disney Store units. In March 2009 a major facelift of the St. Nicholas centre was completed which consisted of new flooring, lighting, and fixtures and fittings to freshen up the dated interior. It also included new doors and light-box signage at both entrances to the centre. The following year, the Bon Accord centre revealed plans for a £6 million upgrade to include giving the 20-year-old centre new entrances on both Schoolhill and George Street as well as a new interior and furniture using a white theme and cleaner lines throughout. The work was completed in 2011. In December 2010, it was announced by bosses at the centre that the "Bon Appetit" food court in the Bon Accord centre was to close after 21 years due to competition from other shopping centres within Aberdeen. Re-opened in November 2011, the area, now known as "Food Terrace", was re-configured into four larger catering units/restaurants each with internal and external seating out in the shopping centre. It was announced in 2013 that co-owners British Land and Land Securities were to sell the Bon Accord & St. Nicholas centre. The deal worth £189 million was completed in October 2013 with F&C REIT, now BMO Real Estate Partners, taking control of the centre. By 2018 however, asset management has since passed on to Capreon Limited, on behalf of Aberdeen Shopping Centre Limited. In late 2018, all reference to the St. Nicholas name was removed resulting in both centres going by the Bon Accord name for the first time. New signage on all entrances was installed reflecting the change. Management at the centre stated in April 2021 that over twenty shops had closed since the start of 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 identi ...
. In August 2022, the Guernsey-based company that owns the centre went into administration.


Future

In July 2021, the council approved plans for a four-screen cinema which would be built inside an existing shop unit in the centre.


See also

* Retail in Aberdeen * Trinity Centre *
Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...


References


External links


Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bon Accord Shopping centres in Aberdeen 1985 establishments in Scotland 1990 establishments in Scotland