Stockport’s newest neighbourhood gears up for launch
Capital&Centric’s 253-home Weir Mill is on course to complete next week and will do so with seven out of eight commercial units already spoken for after the developer opted to take a hit on rents to prioritise independent businesses it thinks will add value to the scheme as a whole.
Very often it is not until a residential scheme completes that attention turns to finding tenants for the ground floor commercial space.
At the £60m Weir Mill, the apartments will launch for rent on 22 August with a near enough full roster of restaurants, bars, cafes – and one bookshop – activating the scheme ahead of residents’ arrivals.
The scheme is due to complete next week. Credit: PNW
“We treat our ground floor commercial as a bit of a loss leader,” said Tom Wilmott, joint managing director of Capital&Centric.
“When we’re underwriting appraisals at the outset, we don’t put in really steamy rents on the ground floor… if we appraise this [space] with rents of £30/sq ft and no fit-out budgets…we are just setting ourselves up to fail.”
A similar approach worked at C&C’s Kampus in Manchester city centre, which also had many of its commercial operators on board prior to any residents moving in. It has become a destination in its own right and charges among the highest residential rents in the city.
A one-bed apartment at Weir Mill will cost up to £1,450 a month, which is punchy for Stockport but a £200 discount compared to Kampus. One-bed flats at Weir Mill start at £1,150 a month.
“By having a really good collective of ground floor independent operators with really good concepts, the rents on the residential will benefit from that,” Wilmott said.
“Ultimately we’re creating a place where people want to live. If we had a soulless ground floor with a load of empty units, it’s not really a place where people want to live.”
Kampus is among the most expensive rental schemes in Manchester. Credit: via Font Comms
Taking a pragmatic approach to the commercial space also provides an opportunity for independent businesses that does not have the covenant strength of a Costa Coffee or a Tesco Express the chance to grow.
“We’ll put in very conservative rents [and] very generous fit-out budgets because we know this industry is really, really tough and we know these guys need an arm around them,” Wilmott said.
“By being quite sensible from the outset in terms of what we feel we can achieve on the ground floor, we’re able to come into this setting ourselves up for success.”
The occupiers confirmed so far include Rita Ray’s, a female-led sports bar concept that, unlike many traditional sports bars, will provide a place to watch women’s sports as they grow in popularity.
Weir Mill is located beneath Stockport’s famous viaduct. Credit: PNW
Becky Brown, founder of Rita Ray’s, explained her decision to choose Weir Mill as the location for the new concept.
“The city centre was not the right place. [I wanted] something more indie and up and coming,” she said.
“I fell in love with the scheme the first time I saw it. It feels like its own little town but it is so close to the town centre as well.”
One of her neighbours will be Social Osteria, the second venture from the team behind Social Trattoria in Poynton.
The restaurant has signed a 15-year lease at what co-founder Jeremy Hague called “very reasonable” rents.
“It is almost like they are not interested in the bog dollar, they just want a really cool place to live,” he said.
Stockport’s emergence as a foodie hotspot was also attractive to the team. Co-founder Will Okill said that if you had asked him five years ago whether he wanted to open a restaurant in the town it would have been ‘a flat no’.
But the chance to join the likes of Mekong Cat and Where the Light Gets In was too good to turn down.
Wine concept Bodega will offer wine by the glass but also offer an innovative solution for people on a budget. The bar’s subscription model will allow people to store their own wine on site and drink it in the bar.
“It will either fly or it will flop,” said Wilmott, who co-owns the business.
The full list of operators confirmed to date is:
- Social Osteria
- Rita Ray’s
- Bodega
- Pilates studio Kontrol
- Bookshop Prologue
- Bar and restaurant Jayne Eyre
Weir Mill is completing around two years later than originally planned – a delay put down mainly to the difficulties of restoring former mills that are hundreds of years old.
But regardless of the wait for what is among the most eagerly anticipated developments in the region, the council, who pumped £60m into the scheme, is pleased with the outcome.
“This kind of development shows our aspiration,” said Cllr Michaela Meikle, cabinet member for economy, regeneration and skills. “It also then helps feed into that narrative about being the best place to live.”
Looks like a fantastic scheme, I am sure the flats will be rented out very quickly!
By Anonymous
£1500 a month for a 1-bed flat in Stockport…. *side eyes*
By Cyril
Great to use the amazing viaduct as a feature.
By Elephant
@Cyril – given its location within a stone’s throw of the bus interchange, not much further to the rail station and on the doorstep of the town centre and the growing range of facilities and services it has to offer, that’s basically the market rate. You’d pay more for similar in Manchester City Centre. You’d pay less if you were further from those facilities/services and worse transport access.
In the main, you pay that much because as a country we’ve not built anywhere near enough new homes for the past 50+ years whilst also deliberately reducing our stock of genuinely available homes, but that’s a different story.
By Anonymous
What’s “indie” about a development?
By Janet
Basically a Council scheme with a C&C badge on it
By Reality Check
Not much changed in the last 2 months.
Completion next week? When will derelict areas of the mill be completed?
By Local
Although C&C are no longer involved, n reality Kampus has seen tenants come and go and almost every tenant still there is in significant rental arrears! Why do they think Stockport, with less foot fall and pull will be any different.
By Anonymous
A two year delay and these guys are considered one of the better developers. In any other industry they would be out of business but assume the public purse keeps them afloat!
By Anonymous
Are the weeds on the viaduct genuine or have they been put there to make it look like a green environment.
By Anonymous
How many affordable homes are in this development?. Stockport is going down hill fast, just like Manchester. Unwanted leasehold apartments with high maintenance charges. AKA the slums of the future
By Anonymous
A small price for a tenant to pay as there are good links to Manchester and London till there is a 90 second electricity outage, buckled rails due to heat, unexplained cancellations from incompetent train firms, etc.
By Mr HowMuch!?
At Weir Mill: A one bed apartment at £1,450 but a one bed flat at £1,150. Huh? What’s the difference between an apartment and a flat? I thought they were different words for the same thing? So why the difference in price?
By Anonymous
Hi Anonymous. One-bed flats range between £1,150 and £1,450. Apartments and flats are the same – it was just we referred to an “up to” price and a “starting at” one (thus the range I’ve provided here). Apologies for any confusion there.
By Julia Hatmaker
Fair play though bringing an old mill back into use and opening up the riverfront. Really good for everyone even who can’t afford the sky high rents.
By Anonymous
Any new doctor’s, dentist and train carriages etc. planned for the influx I wonder.
By Anonymous
What about all the derelict building that have stood for years and the flats that need renovating
By Anonymous
This was a derelict building, anonymous @ 10.22am. A listed derelict building. I’m not sure what your point is.
By What?
Some of the comments on this article are incredible. So much so, I feel like they can’t be for real! @August 08, 2026 at 12:10 – I presume you never stepped foot in Stockport 10 years ago if you think its gone downhill?! The transformation from an absolute dump to somewhere where people now actually want to visit and live is remarkable. A success to be applauded and hopefully replicated across the region.
By Anonymous
It looks like a good a scheme and is a positive thing for Stockport. But those residential rents are very high – considering C&C have yet again received millions of pounds of of public sector grant and borrowing to bring this scheme forward.
By Rennalp
Okay thanks Julia for the clarification. Cheers. Basically one bed flats / apartments are between £1,150 and £1,450 a month.
By Anonymous
Well let’s see in winter…can’t see the street scene it’s rainy Manchester..are they doing covers and heating??? Better than it was!!!
By Anonymous
Its nice to have your ground floor as a “loss leader” without “steamy rents” when virtually all of your schemes – including this one – are underpinned by viability grant funding. There are worse ways to spend Other People’s Money, but let’s be clear that’s what this is.
By The Taxman
This is a hugely important development for Stockport. If it is successful, then 2,000 planned additional apartments nearby may go ahead. If it fails, Stockport’s already beleaguered housing plans will be in tatters.
By MJC
Red Rock Mark II.
And the pleasure of living underneath 1) the west coast mainline and 2) the flight path into the airport.
By Anonymous
Something, something, negative comment, something something, basic lack of knowledge, something, something, even greater lack of understanding, something, something, said with absolute certainty.
I’m sure PNW comments didn’t previously resemble those of the MEN.
By Speak your brains
Thanks for your feedback. We’re working on improving our comments system and will hopefully be able to announce significant changes in the near future. Watch this space.
In the meantime though, I’m more than happy to talk with anyone about the current comment system and how we approach moderation. I’m at [email protected].
By Julia Hatmaker
#speak your brains – it sounds like you know everything. Nothing wrong with letting anybody who wishes comment rather than a “selective few”. Maybe if #SYB could impart some of their knowledge on the rest of ciivlisation we’d all be better off.
By Anonymous
anonymous @ 10.16am – I don’t know everything nor did I imply I did. However, if you read the comments here regularly you’ll see that some people do try to impart knowledge from their various specialisms, sadly to little effect. People don’t have to agree with them, indeed different opinions can be a very positive thing. However, wilful ignorance isn’t the badge of honour some areas of social media seem to think it is. For some, the right to expressing an opinion doesn’t seem to come with the responsibility of doing anything to actually inform yourself about the topic on which you are opining.
By Speak your brains