John Lewis has agreed to anchor Grosvenor's 1.6m-sq ft Tithebarn project in Preston with a new full line department store. The news will provide a welcome boost to the massive regeneration project, which has been slow to get off the starting blocks.
The John Lewis Partnership said the 230,000-sq ft store will represent the next generation of John Lewis' shops. It is the first new opening to be announced since the company announced plans to secure 10 new sites in the UK.
Director of retail development Ann Humphries said: "This investment demonstrates John Lewis' confidence in the plans for the regeneration of Preston. We believe that a vibrant retail offer is an important ingredient for the vitality of any major city and through our partnership with both the council and Grosvenor are keen to deliver this exciting and worthwhile scheme to Preston as part of the Tithebarn project."
Securing an anchor tenant was one of the key clauses in Grosvenor's development agreement with the council, and it clears the way for further progress on the £500m Tithebarn project, which has yet to gain planning consent and will require CPOs to complete site assembly.
In addition to the anchor store the Tithebarn project will include 85 new shops; a refurbished market; a 12-screen cinema; other leisure facilities; restaurants and bars; 400 new homes; a health and fitness centre; over 2,500 car parking spaces; and a new hotel.
The deal comes as part of John Lewis Partnership's plan to almost double its department store portfolio. It currently trades from 26 UK stores, with 11 in the development pipeline: in addition to Preston Leicester, Cardiff, Portsmouth, Oxford, Stratford, Leeds Croydon and Crawley will all see new openings while the retailer has not given up hope of opening at Sprucefield in Northern Ireland.
At the same time the Cambridge, Liverpool and Sheffield stores are all relocating into major new town centre developments.
And incoming managing director Charlie Mayfield has set his sights on another 10 store openings, pointing out that even when the current spate of openings is completed, half of the top 50 retail centres in the UK will still be without a John Lewis.
"We would like to reach more of these customers and are setting our sights on a further 10 shops," he said.
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