Derwent Group plans partial demolition of Walkden Town Centre
While details are still being ironed out, the Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation has committed to investing more than £15m in creating a more modern shopping centre with a new façade and green spaces.
The Derwent Group acts on behalf of the foundation’s property portfolio, which includes Walkden Town Centre and the adjacent Walkden Retail Park. The two properties sit between Manchester Road East and Bolton Road in the Salford town.
The group said that it has spent more than £66m on the two shopping complexes over the last 30 years. While Walkden Retail Park is suitable for modern retail needs, there are spaces in Walkden Town Centre that are “outmoded and in an unsuitable configuration”, according to public consultation documents.
To remedy that, the retail units in the Egerton Walk and Victoria Square sections of Walkden Town Centre are set to be razed, replaced with public realm and newer stores. The public realm will be for temporary use as The Derwent Group brainstorms the best use for the space.
Aerial view of the proposed changes at Walkden Town Centre. Credit: via consultation documents
RGP Architects is working alongside The Derwent Group on designing the plans. A public consultation on the project concludes Sunday, but is light on specific details regarding the amount of square footage to be demolished. Those details will be found in the future planning application, which The Derwent Group hopes to submit later this month.
If planning permission can be secured from Salford City Council in February 2024, the group will look to appoint a contractor in July of that year and complete the project in November 2025.
In the meantime, you can access the public consultation at: walkdentowncentre.co.uk/development.
This would be great improvement and response to the sheer scale of empty space within this precinct. Would love to see areas for play incorporated within the green corridor and a lot more trees and planting than the visuals suggest.
By Anon
They could do with getting rid of the old buildings in front with the bulls head etc and the ones one the corner but it looks like there staying
By james
People are missing the part which states the green space is temporary. I suspect longer term a residential development of some sort will be built opposite the new centre entrance
By Anonymous
This would be a big win for Walkden. We just have to hope that the thing gets built, and that it looks as nice as that. Any new food or drink places would only have to compete with Wetherspoons – lots of commercial opportunity incoming…
By Anonymouse
When was the planning meeting thst gave approval. Why was it not publicised more widely. What are the plans to attract new business into the centre. Extra security??
By Phil Langford
Hi Phil. As the story states, the project is at consultation stage and has not been approved. You can get involved and have your say here – https://walkdentowncentre.co.uk/development/. Thanks, Dan.
By Dan Whelan
Well at the moment I think there are a lot of empty premises in the Ellesmere shopping centre prob on account of the rents being to high.. Any modernization of a place is a good thing as long as it’s not all for the big stores to take over they need a wide range of shops and cafe’s. Places to sit and public toilets.. So be good if fairness was there in the rent charges so small business can have a chance.. Hope it all goes well and it makes Walkden a memorable place to visit..
By Brian Cunningham
It’s not before time. Good on you. Make sure that the roof doesn’t leak.
By Anonymous
About time ! UGLY! White elephant for years !!!
By Angela Hellewell
All very well to modernise the centre, but ultimately pointless when it’s 60% empty.
By Doug Hall
This has been kept very quiet from the people of Walkden. The public consultation was held during the week when most people are at work and there were hardly any signs at all to inform the public of this consultation. It was put in an out if way place in the centre. The persons who found the consultees felt as if this was just a box they had to tick and it was all done and dusted. They weren’t any help at all when questions were asked of them. The escalators next door to.Tescos are always breaking down and taking months to repair. The roof has leaked from day one, their solution was to put a bucket under the leak. Lost count as to how many buckets are out at a time. It should never have been signed off in the first place that they were happy with it. As to the amount of empty units its because of the high rents they expect shop owners to pay. If they reduced them, they would get more shops in, more rent than at the moment and hence more footfall. Remember they are the one who originally designed the centre, They killed the centre over 30 years ago, it had a thriving market hall, now all you have in that area they call the market hall is maybe five units full, because of the high rents they are charging. Its all greed to them, not what the public are needing.
By Sue Field
The town centre was ruined when they closed the old market hall which was a thriving place to shop, all be it a bit old fashioned by todays standards . It had a multitude of different independent shops which were doing really well, never to return once it changed.
Everywhere you go now has the same shops, the same food outlets, of which there are to many ,there is nothing outstanding ir individual anymore.
As for demolishing the the Bulls head & other historic buildings in the area that would be a travesty. There have been enough old buildings destroyed in the name of progress, we should be celebrating them & utilising them.
I hope whatever they have planned looks better than the mess we have now with empty buildings that no one wants to rent & that are vandalised by youths running amock day & night .
By Anonymous
Ultimately, if the project goes ahead, it will fail if the the public can’t afford what is being sold, or businesses can’t have a profit due to astronomical rents.
By Bernard
How many sets of plans are put forward for Walkden and nothing happens… ?
By Lisa
Would make walkden a better place to visit + shop
By Anonymous
Get the cinema and bowling alley on there! I’m sure this was supposed to happen years ago when they started redevelopment.Primark, high Street shops,we still have to go to Bolton for this,let’s get walkden on the map,such a waste of unused space at the moment.
By Mandy
Don’t see the problem but why don’t they spend money on the building now as 70% of the shops are empty! The roof is leaking ! Rents are so high! Seems a bad move to me!
By Anonymous
Great news !!! With be good for this up and coming town 👍
By Helen Kelly
Yeah residence area if no big stores come but outdoor seating spaces for storefronts will stay regardless much needed it won’t look so empty and hopeless anymore
By Sam
That does look like a good improvement for that space.
However. The current retail park interior suffers from rather poor maintenance frequency. I shop there and often roll my eyes at the number of buckets spread across the entire complex catching leaks from the roof. Escalators and lifts are frequently out-of-order and it’s usually over 4-5 weeks before they’re repaired and then the same amount of time before they are out of order again.
Does the center have an HVAC system because it’s always cold in winter and hot in summer? The policy seems to be never to switch it on. Security there also seems to be struggling with local youth nuisances and has taken to closing many of the entrances in order for their limited number of security staff to man the entrances and keep unaccompanied youths out. They really need to communicate with the local authority to tackle this anti-social behaviour if it results in measures such as closing down entrances.
By Anonymous
Walkden Town Centre have still not submitted their planning application to Salford City Council as promised.
‘Mid October’ has been and gone.
By Geraldine
Where will people park?
By Victoria