Royal Victoria Place is a British, partially covered

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 collec ...

Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. In 2019, it contained 99 retail units, as well as the Camden Centre, a community facility managed by

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council Tunbridge may refer to the following places: * Tunbridge, Illinois, United States * Tunbridge, North Dakota, see Locations in the United States with an English name#North Dakota * Tunbridge, Tasmania, Australia * Tunbridge, Vermont, United State ...

History

Royal Victoria Place was opened by

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

on 21 October 1992. Construction took 36 months and built over the railway line between

and

High Brooms High Brooms is a suburb of Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. Its railway station is High Brooms railway station. It is connected by train to London and Hastings. It is in the civil parish of Southborough. Between 1885 and 1968, the High ...

stations.

owns the shopping centre

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple *Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice p ...

and is obliged to pay 10% of certain refurbishment costs. The rent it receives varies with gross rentals but as of 2019, is a minimum of £882,000 per year. The head lease from the council runs until 2192 and is currently held by BL Tunbridge Wells Ltd, a subsidiary of

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 ...

. Hermes Investment Management bought out its fellow head

lessee A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industria ...

, Westfield Group's interest in 2012, and sold the whole to British Land for £96 million in 2018. BL Tunbridge Wells Ltd wrote off the value of its property by £15 million in 2019; £37 million in 2020, and a further £31 million in 2021.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Shopping centres in Southeast England Shopping centres in Kent Buildings and structures in Royal Tunbridge Wells