Twenty years on - The Bentall Centre, Kingston
Published: 23 February, 2011
When The Bentall Centre opened on November 2 1993, 80 per cent of the floor space was let or in solicitors hands.
The 100-unit centre, a joint venture between Norwich Union and department store Bentalls, was built on four levels with a fifth floor reserved for a gym and swimming pool.
The 200,000-sq ft Bentalls department store opened ahead of the rest of the development in July 1990 with other anchor units going to WH Smith, Dillons and HMV.
Initially there was criticism about the centre’s keyhole shape meaning that the main anchor unit, housing Bentalls department store, was at the opposite end to the main entrance but it soon became clear that the design helped to draw people through the centre.
And the layout also meant that Kingston town centre’s three main retail draws, Bentalls department store, John Lewis and M&S formed a triangle shape similar to the set-up that was later to emerge at Bluewater.
Other retailers included The Pier, Austin Reed, Disney Store, Esprit, Toystack and Whittards and a host of others, among them Karen Millen, Pineapple, Envy Menswear, Paco and Books & Co were getting ready to go in.
And fashion retailer Mac & Maggie, which had 41 stores across the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, chose the centre to open its first UK store.
The 350-seat Royal Crescent foodcourt opened with five kiosks – Cafe Espresso, Smith & Co New York Delicatessen, Healthy Choice, Bakes Potatoes & Waffles and Food of the East – operating.
The entire centre was designed with flexibility in mind and units could be made any size between 700 sq ft and 11,000 sq ft.
This flexibility came in handy during the centre’s many minor redevelopments including the creation of two big units for H&M and Zara, a new escalator and the removal of the by then 600-seat foodcourt in 2005.
In March 2010, 50 per cent of the centre was sold to Meyer Bergman with the rest remaining with Aviva Life & Pensions (Norwich Union) and it’s now part of the Fewicks empire.
Centre director Bob Ritchie has been there since the beginning.
“We opened at the bottom of the recession which turned out to be positive because we built ourselves up over the next few years,” he says.
He is proud that the centre has seen its fair share of firsts, including being the first centre to have a non-smoking policy, which meant that they’ve only had to re-paint the centre twice in 20 years, lowering service charges.
It was also one of the first shopping centres to get Investors in People accreditation.
“We have a low turnover of staff because people are happy to work here,” says Ritchie. Something re-enforced by the office manager and cleaning manager who, having joined the staff when the centre opened, continue to work there.
Ritchie is also proud of the centre’s clean and tidy interior, despite having no litter bins for customer use. “People see the cleanliness and do their bit to keep the centre clean,” he says. “If you have bins and they overflow it can make the centre look worse than if you have none at all.”
Looking to the future, ramping annual footfall up to 15m and concentrating on marketing strategy is the way forward.
“We’re bound by these four walls,” says Ritchie. “But we want to continue to attract hot brands”
Current tenants include Hollister, Waterstones, Muji, Aldo, New Look, Levi’s, Superdry, Timberland, Swarovski, Paperchase and Apple.
“We have 20,000 plus students living in Kingston so the late teen, early 20’s market is most successful for us,” adds Ritchie.
He also says that if a retailer is right for Kingston and right for the centre then adjustments to unit sizes can be made.
And the centre is using social media and looking into other new marketing technologies like Bluetooth and the development of an iPhone app.
“We’re working on anything that enables us to interact with the public more directly,” says Ritchie.
And there’s a real focus on a move to look at Kingston as a whole, getting away from what Ritchie calls the “fragmented parts” and working with the council and other organisations to market the town together.
