Turnaround specialist pours cold water on council’s town centre regeneration

Simon Danczuk with Bill Grimsey in Rochdale Town Centre

One of the UK’s leading retail turnaround specialists has warned Rochdale Council that they should not be looking at building more retail space to regenerate the town centre.

Bill Grimsey, who has previously turned around retail businesses such as Wickes, and Iceland, as well as managing store groups in South Africa and Hong Kong, poured cold water on the Council’s proposed £150m retail development with Genr8, which aims to build a third shopping centre.

“The last thing Rochdale needs now is more retail space,” he said after being given a tour of the town by Rochdale’s MP Simon Danczuk. “There are three reasons for this. Firstly, the current retail proposition is not being filled by retailers, secondly consumer trending is moving away from shopping and heading online, and this is only going to get worse. And finally, any new shopping centre would seriously damage the viability of other shopping centres in Rochdale.”

Predicting that in five years time more than fifty per-cent of non-food shopping will be done on-line, Grimsey said that only towns that were able to carve out a distinct identity, strike the right balance between retail, leisure and community activities, and use their heritage wisely would thrive.

The author of ‘Who Killed the High Street?’ said some shopping areas should be converted into residential areas with shops being moved into Yorkshire Street and the immediate surrounding areas. He added that the town centre needed a cinema and suggested that the Wheatsheaf shopping centre should be turned into a leisure and entertainment centre to kick start a stronger evening economy. He also called for the market to be brought outdoors again, investment in the public realm and suggested that The Butts be used more for public events and a renewed focus be made on turning this into a community space.

Simon Danczuk, a long-term critic of the Council’s regeneration plans, said the town centre was at a crossroads and Council bosses could ill afford to make any more mistakes.

“Our town centre, like many others in Greater Manchester, faces enormous challenges and I want the best retail minds in the country to help us adapt to the changes in the way people shop and innovate to meet the changing demands of consumers,” he said.

“Bill has a wealth of experience in retail and straight away he said the regeneration plans would not work. I’ve yet to meet any retail boss who thinks this is the right approach. The future of shopping is changing at a remarkable pace and the Council needs a plan that’s able to embrace these changes not hark back to the past.”

A recent report by AGMA on Greater Manchester town centres noted that in Rochdale, “the changing retail landscape and consumer trends will make the Town Centre East retail elements of the town centre strategy difficult to deliver.”

Rochdale Council had not responded to an invitation to comment at the time of publication.