Queensgate future plans get a ‘cautious’ welcome – BBC News

Plans to revitalise a struggling city centre shopping mall are a “step in the right direction”, according to a civic society.

The owner of Peterborough’s Queensgate shopping centre, Invesco Retail Estate, outlined its plans for the centre, including a new cinema.

Toby Wood from Peterborough Civic Society said: “I can’t leap up and down and say it’s wonderful but it is a step in the right direction.

The shopping centre struggled to bounce back after losing big retailers over recent years, including John Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Monsoon and Accessorize.

“City centre shoppers are definitely changing and they come in not just for shopping but for meals or to see the Cathedral,” Mr Wood added.

“I think, we are living in financially difficult times and anything trying to make the best of it is optimistic.”

Invesco said the centre has had to “grapple with a vacant anchor store [John Lewis] alongside the usual struggles facing the high streets everywhere”.

But the owners said the new Odeon cinema scheduled to open before Christmas this year alongside the retail giant Frasers, which is due to take over the former John Lewis unit in May 2025, was creating a “positive momentum for Queensgate”.

There are also plans for five restaurants with details to be announced shortly, Invesco said.

Dr Cheryl Greyson, senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, said, the idea of a cinema alongside shopping has been a success at nearby Rushden Lakes in Northampton, which she described as “bustling.”

“But, Queensgate is not telling us what they are going to do about cinema parking,” she noted.

“Parking spaces are also a concern as they are very tight. We need to make it attractive for the visitors.”

Dave Poulton runs Unity store in Queensgate – a collaborative retail project featuring over 50 small local businesses.

“I am excited. We want to make the city centre a heart for the city and Queensgate is the key for it.

“Peterborough lacks family entertaining as a whole. Shops are shutting. But a mixture of retail and entertainment is the way have to go and adapt with changing times,” he said.