The Suffolk town of Bury St Edmunds is famous for a number of things; its crumbling yet stunning abbey still draws a crowd and its prestigious twice weekly market sells a variety of local produce. One thing Bury isn’t particularly noted for is it high street shopping. With the arrival of Arc, this is set to change, whether opponents like it or not.

This is not the first time the medieval market town has found itself under the developer’s spotlight. Back in the late eighties, the same patch now occupied by the 265,000-sq ft Arc scheme was targeted by Chartwell Land as a lucrative spot upon which to build a new shopping centre. Bury had previously fought off a number of plans to redevelop parts of the town in the 1970s and did so successfully again with the Chartwell Land project, despite a multi storey car park already having been constructed in anticipation of the proposed new complex.

This time local campaigners were not so lucky. Centros and Delancey were eventually selected by the local council to put long held plans into action on a scheme which took eight years to come to fruition. Situated in the heart of the Suffolk commuter belt, the new Bury St Edmunds scheme is expected to pull in inhabitants of neighbouring towns and villages which would have previously been served by larger nearby towns.

The introduction of the scheme has given Bury a whole new prominence in the local area, says centre manager Paul Haines. “What the project has delivered is a choice of brands and multiples that Bury hasn’t had before,” he says. “Now you’ve got that choice, this means we’re able to compete sub regionally with Ipswich, Norwich and Cambridge.”

Great care was taken to address local residents’ concerns about the scheme and research pored over in order to establish how best to integrate the scheme with the market town. Consideration was also given to the medieval grid pattern of the streets, says Haines. “It was important for us to integrate and extend the streetscape; that’s been an important part of the design,” he reports. Additional preservational touches also include reclamation of the flint in a wall which was demolished and then rebuilt, using the original stones.

New street names such as Auction Street and Charter Square are also a nod to Bury St Edmunds historic market trading past. It seems rather an odd choice perhaps to have then opted ‘Arc’ as the scheme’s title instead of the oft-mooted alternative ‘Cattlemarket’. “I think ‘Arc’ represents this offer so much better than Cattlemarket,” says Haines. “Cattlemarket is representative of the location but I don’t think it reflects the offer. What we have here is modern and vibrant and I think Arc reflects that so much better.”

Retailers seem to agree. The Arc is attracting a great deal of attention from retailers keen to tout their wares to the affluent inhabitants of Bury St Edmunds. Those already open include flagship store Debenhams, Topshop, H&M, Jane Norman, Costa Coffee and Next with units opening from Blacks, Vera Moda, Jack and Jones, HMV and Waterstones before June this year. This will render the scheme 90 per cent full – not bad given the global economic woes. While footfall counters are yet to be installed at the scheme initial car park figures are up “tremendously” on the previous year and Haines is reportedly receiving very positive feedback from tenants.

However, not all of these names are new to Bury. Around half a dozen of the retailers which have taken units
in the scheme have relocated from smaller shops in the town, causing more than a few raised eyebrows. However, Haines says there is little cause for alarm; the combination of the current economic climate and
the increased square footage was inevitably going to result in a few empty units. “Bury, in the hierarchy
of retail, has got a net increase of 140,000 square foot so the town centre management has done a grand job in trying to get those voids filled,” he commends. “Furthermore, if you look at the number of empty retail units here compared to most other towns not only in the South East but in the whole of the UK, we’re doing very well in comparison.”

However, doubters worry the increment in people visiting Bury may have other less pleasant side effects, including a potential hike in crime.
“As the centre becomes more successful it could easily become a target,” concedes Haines, “but that’s why we’ve put in place preventative measures working with the police, St Edmundsbury Borough Council and other local authorities.”

“In conjunction with the police we are doing some anti terrorism training not just for Arc retailers but for the rest of the town. We’ve also joined the town centre radio network which is a scheme that existed already, rather than inventing a new scheme and being independent of that we are
very much a part of it so we can disseminate information to other traders in town and work with them,” he explains.

While the opening of the scheme may be a somewhat thorny issue for some of the town’s more reluctant residents, with its high-quality, high-gloss finishes and exciting and modern retail mix, Arc looks certain
to put Bury on the map.