Eden, High Wycombe

Eden, known more popularly as the Eden Centre, is a shopping and entertainment complex in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire in the south east of England. With a floor area of , it is the 37th largest shopping centre in the United Kingdom and the largest in the surrounding area.

The centre has 107 shops, a bowling alley, a cinema, a library (which opened on 3 June 2008), parking for 1,600 cars on site, and car parking other car parks available nearby.

The complex is part of a major regeneration of High Wycombe in a bid to transform the town into a regional shopping destination. The complex includes a new bus station and 48 residential flats. The bus station opened in July 2006 followed by the shopping centre on 13 March 2008.

Eden attracted one million visitors within two weeks of opening and regularly attracts over 350,000 visitors per week.

History

Background

Eden formed part of a multi-million programme of investment to transform the town. In 1991, the area later occupied by Eden was known as 'the western desert', and Wycombe District Council placed improving it as a top priority.

Before the construction of Eden, the town centre of High Wycombe contained two shopping centres, the Octagon Centre and the Chilterns Shopping Centre. The Octagon which opened in the 1970s was dated and was incorporated into the redevelopment. High Wycombe has a population of 120,257 people and the town centre was not much of an attraction, with shops spread out over a large area. Moreover, the town was seen as being overshadowed by nearby towns with larger shopping centres, such as the Queensmere Observatory ( Slough), King Edward Court (Windsor), the Oracle (Reading), the Chimes (Uxbridge), Harlequin Shopping Centre (Watford) and Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre ( Milton Keynes).

A new shopping centre was agreed to rejuvenate the town. The development was known as Western Sector, Project Phoenix and TCR (town centre redevelopment), until the name 'Eden' was announced at the annual meeting of Wycombe District Council on 9 May 2005. This name was recommended by marketing consultants DS Emotion, who had been appointed to choose an appropriate name for the development. Letters written to local newspaper ''Bucks Free Press'' revealed a mixed reaction to the name: some readers felt that it was unrelated to local culture and not inclusive for High Wycombe's ethnic community, but others approved of the name and remarked on the sense of calm it evoked.

The new shopping centre would include a new bus station, library, cinema, and a bowling alley. 48 new flats would also be built.

Construction

The bid for the contract was won by Stannifer, the construction arm of Multiplex UK. Despite some initial uncertainty when it emerged that Multiplex UK was in financial difficulties related to its rebuilding project at Wembley Stadium, the construction work began in September 2005. Construction was scheduled to begin on 5 September, but there was a delay due to incomplete paperwork, and building work began properly on 30 September. Demolition work started in August, beginning with Iceland.

The site for the new complex was to be just south of Oxford Road, a dual carriageway section of the A40 on two flat car parks. The centre would also extend over the site of the old bus station and combine the existing Octagon Centre, which would be renamed as the Eden Centre.

The Tesco store remained in position throughout, a decision which was criticised as the centre had to be built around the store. The Tesco building has been considered by some to out of place, compared to the new, modern-looking buildings.

Construction of the new shopping centre began in October 2005 and was to take about two and a half years. While Eden was being built, the fencing around the site contained 'vision holes' so that visitors could see the progress being made.

Car parking in the town was affected by the works, as Bridge Street car park was closed. Some roads were also closed or partly closed.

A new multi-storey car park was built to connect with the existing Newlands Car Park which was refurbished. The old bus station which had been viewed as dangerous at night due to poor lighting was replaced by a new 18-bay station with direct access to the shops. This opened in July 2006.

Opening

Eden officially opened on 13 March 2008. Free rides on a large ferris wheel named the Wycombe Eye and carnival style celebrations were major parts of the opening ceremony.
The actual opening ceremony involved a lone musician beginning in the high street, walking towards the new complex where he was joined by more musicians and dancers.

The opening ceremony was meant to represent the town's ethnic minorities and included lightly dressed dancers. Wycombe Islamic Society criticised the dress of some performers as being inappropriate.

The entertainment complex and library were officially opened on 9 July 2008 by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, who unveiled a plaque in the library.

Centre features

The shopping centre contains 107 shops, of which 54 were new to the town and 53 resited from elsewhere in the town. The two largest stores in the centre are House of Fraser, which is four storeys high, and Marks and Spencer, which moved to Eden from the Chilterns Shopping Centre. The complex has eleven restaurants and cafés. Additionally, the centre contains a 12-screen Cineworld cinema, a 22-lane Hollywood Bowl alley, a 58,000-book library, up from 45,000 books held at the old library. The library features step-free access.

Eden features a car park with 1,500 spaces and 48 residential apartments on the south side of the centre.

Travel

Park and ride

A park and ride operates between High Wycombe Bus Station (adjoining the Eden center) and High Wycombe Coachway (part of the Handy Cross Hub) near junction 4 of the M40 motorway, which also serves the railway station and the hospital. The service began on 5 September 2005 and operates every 20 minutes during the day.

Rail

High Wycombe railway station, located near the High Street, is operated by Chiltern Railways with services to London Marylebone, Aylesbury and Birmingham Moor Street.

Effect on the town centre

The Eden project formed part of a larger plan of regeneration, which resulted in other developments, including the development of a new enlarged Sainsbury's store facing onto Oxford Road.

In 2009, property consultants Colliers CRE conducted a survey of 15 towns and cities across the UK, which revealed that in October 2008 High Wycombe had the highest proportion of empty retail units, at 23.6 per cent. This was attributed to the joint impact of the recession and the opening of Eden, which had drawn many major retailers and shoppers out of other areas of the town.

High Street

The town centre of High Wycombe has gradually been moving west and the High Street is no longer the place for high-brand shops though it retains WHSmith, Boots and a McDonald's, amongst others so is still used by shoppers. The High Street and nearby streets are notable for containing the main banks like HSBC, TSB Bank, Metro Bank, Halifax and Barclays and it leads the way to the railway station. Supermarket Iceland, who was forced to leave their former site on Desborough Road in 2005 as part of the Eden shopping centre redevelopment, re-opened on the High Street in 2010, occupying the space that previously housed Woolworths.

Chilterns' Shopping Centre

Chilterns' Shopping Centre was opened in the 1980s is located only a matter of feet from where Eden is now located. With the opening of the Eden Centre, there was fear that business would be pulled away from the centre, as shops such as Marks & Spencer and Wallis moved to Eden. However, the managers of the centre were more optimistic. and in October 2004 it was announced that a major store would replace the Marks and Spencer. In February 2008 the store was confirmed to be Primark, the new store opened on 1 October 2008. The centre started to become empty gradually, with Buckinghamshire New University purchasing home areas to convert into accommodation. By December 2017, only five or so units occupied the twenty-nine unit site. The site was purchased by Dandara Homes in December 2017, and in May 2018, it was confirmed that Dandara would transform the centre into flats. In March 2019, Dandara Homes confirmed that they were still interested in converting it into flats, and were looking to work alongside the council to help improve Frogmoor.

Elsewhere

The large out-of-town John Lewis near the M40 on Holmers Farm Way received some initial competition from Eden, especially House of Fraser, but store bosses were confident that John Lewis' reputation would enable it to retain customers.
This has been more than borne out by the fact that in 2013 John Lewi
refurbished and expanded the store
to include clothing and other departments, incorporating some designer brands into their outfits.

Time capsule

In November 2007, a time capsule was buried underneath part of the shopping centre. Various items were placed in the capsule, which is not expected to be dug up for fifty years.

Events

Since August 2009, the shopping centre has held an annual food festival.

The centre was used as a filming location for the Black Mirror episode, "The Waldo Moment".

Public opinion

Local newspaper the ''Bucks Free Press'' received many complaints about the design of the shopping centre, especially the fact that there is not a proper roof, resulting in the centre being compared to a 'wind tunnel'. This is disputable, as the designers had to work their way around the existing Tesco. However general response to the centre was positive. with the centre remaining very busy as of December 2021.

References

External links

Eden
– official site

Eden High Wycombe
– Additional information

Store guide with map of town centre

My Wycombe
– focusing on the wider regeneration of High Wycombe

High Wycombe Park & Ride

{{Shopping centres in Southeast England

Shopping centres in Buckinghamshire
Buildings and structures in Buckinghamshire
High Wycombe
Shopping malls established in 2008