Catering upgrade for Milton Keynes
Published: 17 June, 2010
The nature of shopping centre foodservice is changing, and thecentre:mk is the latest centre to upgrade its catering offer with Destination Dining, a new £10m restaurant quarter completing the centre’s refurbishment
The 18,000-sq ft development comprises four restaurant units overlooking Queens Court and the restaurants have under-cover seating in winter garden-style colonnades which have retractable glass doors, enabling customers to sit outside when the weather is good.
Yo! Sushi has taken 5,000 sq ft to provide 115 covers (75 inside and 40 outside) while Carluccios will operate 102 covers (54 inside and 48 outside) from a similar-sized unit. Both are opening in Milton Keynes for the first time.
And Nandos will offer 170 covers, all indoors while Cafe Rouge will offer 102 with 54 inside and 48 outside.
The new units have been built on the east and west of Queens Court, and extensive re-landscaping has taken place to encourage free movement across the courtyard and to enliven the space for events, entertainment and activities. Hard and soft landscaping has been designed to create a tranquil environment with 50m of stone benches around a redesigned water feature and another 92m of seating beneath the courtyard’s trees.
“It’s all about making better use of space,” said centre director Robert Goodman. He points out that the consumption of food outside the home has quadrupled over the 30 years since the centre opened, and like all established centres it needed to adapt its offer to keep up with this trend.
The development brings thecentre:mk’s catering offer up to 16 units, although Goodman concedes that a new development of a similar scale would probably have twice as many restaurants.
“One of the big wins is that it will extend trading hours to midnight,” said Goodman, “Whereas traditionally we’ve closed at six on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.”
This will mark a big change for Milton Keynes. “Every other city’s buzzing in the evening, but apart from the Theatre District and Xscape Milton Keynes has not had much to offer after hours.”
The move partly reflects the changing demographic of Milton Keynes city centre. Strict zoning of the original masterplan meant the city centre was dominated by offices, but recently a more relaxed approach has seen a surge in mixed-use development with apartments and low-rise housing in the city centre changing the nature of the shopping centre’s immediate catchment.
Destination Dining is the second element of a £20m investment in the centre, which started on site in May 2008. The first was the adjacent Premium Quarter, which has provided units for a range of aspirational brands including Kurt Geiger, Jones the Bootmaker, Phase 8 and Jaeger.
At the same time owners PruPIM and Hermes have invested in a new wayfinding system including high-tech touchscreens and colour coded zoning to make the centre easier to navigate.
“The attraction of alfresco dining and the later opening of the shopping centre will allow thecentre:mk to maintain its position as a premium regional shopping destination and help develop a thriving evening economy in the city,” said Goodman.
