The proposals for a new cinema to be built on land adjacent to the overflow car park off Link Road, Yate have received an overwhelmingly positive response.

Of the 300 comment forms returned after the recent public display, nearly 77% of respondents supported the concept with a further 16% supporting the idea of a cinema and new restaurants coming to Yate but with reservations about the need for new retail units.

Commenting on the feedback, Shopping Centre Manager Andrew Lowrey said: “We are obviously pleased that so many people recognise the benefits of extending the town centre with a new cinema, restaurants and retail units. One point to come out of the display was the comments received about the number of vacant retail units in the middle of the existing Centre. Customers want to know what is happening with them. As well as regular press releases and updates across our website and social media pages, we are now ensuring that we update their status with signs in the windows so that shoppers know what to expect and can follow developments.

“On the whole Yate Shopping Centre is bucking the national trend. Only last week the government announced that retail sales last month were down 1.3% year-on-year whilst the British Retail Consortium announced a noticeable increase in high street vacancies over recent months. At Yate this month alone we have seen an annual footfall increase of about 6% and plenty of new interest in some of the existing vacant units, several of which are now either under offer or close to being let.

“The fact that Marks & Spencer Simply Food is opening next week and the recent opening of Sports Direct and Costa Coffee along with proposed cinema development have all helped raise the profile of the Shopping Centre. We are getting both national and independent retailers approaching us for space and looking at all options to reconfigure existing premises to meet their requirements. However, some retailers require new large premises to meet their trading format and the three units in the new cinema development will enable us to meet this need.

“It was also very apparent from speaking to people at the display that visitors are not aware they can keep up-to-date with latest developments on the Shopping Centre website. We learnt a lot over the two days and are reviewing how we can become more effective in telling everybody what’s happening.”

The feedback from the public display is now being analysed and will help the Shopping Centre owners, Dominion Corporate Trustees, finalise the plans ready for a planning application to be submitted next month.

The consultation information leaflet can be downloaded here

The consulation display can be downloaded here

For further information about developments at Yate Shopping Centre see our development page.

For latest job vacancies see our vacancies page.

Marks and Spencer has revealed full details of its new Simply Food store due to open in Yate next month.

The store, opening in a brand new unit on East Walk in Yate Shopping Centre, will stock 4,000 food and drink lines.

The 9,000 square feet shop will also include a selection of hosiery, cards and beauty products.

There will be a 50-seat M&S café and an in-store bakery and the retailer’s Shop Your Way, giving customers a choice of ordering from a catalogue or online for next day collection, will be available in Yate.

Eighty new jobs have been created by the store opening.  Store manager Rob Mathias said: “We are delighted to be opening a Simply Food store in Yate which will provide local customers with a great new shopping experience.

“Shoppers will be able to select their favorite M&S products from the food hall and bakery and relax in the new M&S café.

“We are really looking forward to welcoming customers through our doors on the 5th June.”

The Simply Food store will open at 10am on Wednesday, June 5 and usual trading hours will be Monday to Saturday 8am to 8pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm.

Hotcha is to open a restaurant in Yate Shopping Centre in the former electrical showrooms in North Parade.

A planning application for this fast rising Chinese restaurant and takeaway chain has been submitted and it is hoped the branch will open in late summer.

Andrew Lowrey, Centre Manager, said: “We are very pleased that Hotcha wants to open in the Centre. We have always wanted to extend the range of eateries and nightlife offers in the Centre and we feel this complements our existing establishments.

“The North Parade units have been vacant for some time so it is good news that they will be occupied. We have submitted a planning application for their change of use and for some external changes as it is important such a change gets a prominent visibility from the surrounding areas.

“This further great news hot on the heels of last week’s cinema announcement demonstrates that Yate is an attraction for local, regional and national chains.”

Two of the three new East Walk retail units, Costa Coffee and Sports Direct, are scheduled to open next week with Marks & Spencer Simply Food following in June. There will be further announcements about other plans coming forward in the next few weeks.

Hotcha already has nine other stores – six in Bristol, one in Weston Super Mare and two in Swindon – and will create further employment opportunities for staff in Yate. http://www.hotcha.co.uk/

Consultation will start this month on proposals to develop land adjacent to Yate’s Link Road overflow car park.

Dominion Corporate Trustees (DCT), owners of the town’s Shopping Centre, are proposing that the site is developed as a leisure quarter with a cinema, restaurants and new retail units.

Mark Hull, DCT’s Group Property Controller, said: “We have always been aware of the strong feelings to see a cinema in Yate. When we first consulted the public seven years ago, shortly after buying the centre, on the proposals for a new Tesco store and additional retail units in East Walk, the things that topped the public’s wish list then was a new cinema and more high street retail names.

“We have so far secured Marks & Spencer Simply Foods, Sports Direct and Costa Coffee for East Walk, along with strong interest from a national fashion retailer on the final unit, and are now doing our best to deliver a cinema!

“Our aim is to create a nightlife venue for Yate that will rival other nearby centres and save people having to drive out of the town for their entertainment. We are proposing a six screen cinema, six restaurants and food outlets of various sizes, and three new retail outlets. It is a combination that will make the project viable and is attractive to the market. We already have operators interested in taking the majority of the space in the development.

“We are starting the consultation process this week and it will culminate in a public display in the next few weeks when the full plans will be unveiled.”

Commenting on the announcement, Yate’s Mayor Councillor Martin Monk, said: “This is great news for Yate. I am pleased to see that consultation is starting on plans that could deliver several of the town’s Community Plan issues. It’s also good that a major business like DCT has kept its promise and proposes investing over £12 million in our town centre. I await the plans with interest.”

The proposed development will have easy access to Yate’s new bus station and will see an increase in parking provisions with a total of 360 car parking spaces along with a further 1260 that already exist at the Shopping Centre.

The total investment in the project is well in excess of £12 million. It is expected to create over 150 further jobs in the Centre with as many as another 100 jobs during the construction phase.

Mark Hull: “This latest project will bring our total spend in Yate to over £40 million in the last three years and  we are committed to ensuring that Yate Shopping Centre is a 21^st Century facility that serves the locality and plays a major role in keeping people in the town. This kind of investment is just unheard of during times of recession, but we believe in the longevity of the Shopping Centre and Town as a whole”.

For further information about developments at Yate Shopping Centre see our development page.

The four new retail units in Yate Shopping Centre’s East Walk have been handed over by the contractors ISG to the centre management ready for the final stage of the project.

Costa and Sports Direct will start fitting-out on Monday, 25^th March and Marks & Spencer Simply Food two weeks later.

It is confirmed that Costa will open Monday, 22nd April; Sports Direct four days later and Marks & Spencer on 5th June.

Speaking at the handover, Shopping Centre Manager, Andrew Lowrey, said: “It has been a fantastic effort by the whole project team to deliver the units on time. The contractors and their many subcontractors have had their work cut out but credit to them as it all came together in the end!

“The new East Walk entrance gives a truly modern feel to the Shopping Centre which is important as it is the first view that many visitors get. It is the first major upgrade to this part of the centre since it was built over 40 years ago.

“The completion of the units is the end of the first phase of the revamp of Yate Shopping Centre which the owners promised when they bought it six years ago. There are other plans coming forward and these will be announced in the near future.”

Over 100 new jobs are being created at Yate Shopping Centre with the opening of three new retail units in the next few months.

Within two weeks of the jobs being advertised on the Yate Shopping Centre website and Facebook page, there have been over 3,500 enquires.

During May and June Marks & Spencer Simply Food, Sports Direct and Costa Coffee will be opening units in the new East Walk development opposite the Tesco Extra store which opened in October 2011.

Commenting on the level of interest in the jobs Centre Manager, Andrew Lowrey, said: “We have had unprecedented interest in these jobs and the enquiries are still flooding in. There is certainly no lack of interest and it is very much an operator’s market with them being able to be very selective from a wide range of applicants of all ages and abilities.

“The three new retail shops are due to be handed over to the operators later this month when the operators will start their fitting-out. At the same time they will be looking to finalise the selection of staff and on-site training ready for the openings.

“Over the last few months there have been up to 100 construction workers employed on site through the contractors ISG Pearce so the Centre is certainly pulling its weight in helping to boost the local economy.“

The Easter Bunny will be entertaining children at Yate Shopping Centre on Thursday 28th March between 11am and 3pm.

During the day there will be a varied programme of entertainment for children with appearances on the hour every hour by the Centre’s very own Easter Bunny who will be out and about meeting children.

There is also a series of workshops planned where children can make Easter eggs, egg cups and Easter cards. All activities will be held in the central square at the Shopping Centre.

Tracy King, Yate Shopping Centre Marketing Manager, says: “This day of activity kicks-off our 2013 entertainment programme. All children are welcome to come and meet East Bunny or to take part in the workshops.”

Building work on a new rank of retail units in Yate has passed the half-way stage.

Four new shop units are being constructed on East Walk, in Yate Shopping Centre, as part of the redevelopment of that side of the centre.

Three national retailers, M&S Simply Food, Costa Coffee and Sports Direct, have already signed up to take on the leases of the units with M&S due to combine two of the shop fronts to make one larger space.

All three shops are due to be completed in March and the high profile retailers are expected to move in shortly afterwards.

Andrew Lowrey, Yate Shopping Centre manager, said the development was going well.

He said: “Building work at Yate Shopping Centre is going according to plan with construction of the new retail units in the East Walk development scheduled for completion in mid-March.

“We are currently in the 13th week of the 20-week build programme and all steel work and first floor decking has been completed so the form of the new units is now visible to shoppers visiting the centre.

“The occupiers – M&S Simply Food, Sports Direct and Costa Coffee – will then take occupancy of the units to start fitting-out the shells with openings scheduled for late spring.”

The new rank of shops follows the opening of Tesco Extra, also on East Walk, in October 2011 and forms part of the shopping centre’s plans to invest in Yate making the town a shopping destination to rival the region’s other retail areas.

Despite the closure of menswear shop Burton, fashion retailer Peacocks and several card shops last year, Yate celebrated a number of successful events during 2012 including its annual Christmas lights switch on which attracted 3,000 people, Diamond Jubilee music events, a visit from the Coca Cola lorry and a beach in Four Season’s Square which brought in many visitors during a week in the summer.

It also saw the opening of Poundland, 99p Stores, a 99p café and a JD Wetherspoon pub.

As part of the building work, a block of public toilets adjacent to the Superdrug store on East Walk has been demolished. New modern facilities are being built to replace them in West Walk.

Said Mr Lowrey: “Construction of the new toilet facilities in West Walk is also going to plan with the foundations and concrete base completed.

“We have now confirmed the final colours and finishes opting for a modern and vibrant theme. The new toilets are scheduled to open on February 25.”

A new cafe selling meals for just 99p is to open in Yate next month. Cafe 99 has taken a lease at 14 North Walk in Yate Shopping Centre and will open its doors on 5^th December.

All dishes including slices of pizza, jacket potatoes, sandwiches, baguettes, Panini’s and sausage rolls are available to customers for less than a pound.

The concept is the brainchild of Cheltenham businessman Mr Emirali, who said: “It is a completely new concept and we do try to give customers value for money.

“We know what sells and what does not. Everything is made fresh on the premises daily and a lot of our products are sourced from local suppliers. We provide value in difficult times, but customer satisfaction is very important to us.”

Continuing, Mr Emirali said: “The cafe is affordable and so reaches out to everybody in all parts of the community and caters for everybody – from the elderly to kids”.

“Buying products directly from local suppliers in high volume and working on a lower profit margin have helped keep the prices at 99p.”

Yate Shopping Centre Management has landed a top Community Award at the annual DTZ/UGL Real Estate Management Services Awards 2012.

The Management Team, headed by Andrew Lowrey, has been selected by the judges for its support and commitment to the local community.

Andrew Lowrey, Yate Shopping Centre Manager, said: “Yate Shopping Centre has been at the heart of the community for over 45 years and we have great pleasure supporting local initiatives and worthwhile causes.

“Over the last twelve months we have extended our commitment by getting involved with offering storage space to Yate’s Food Bank Project and by sponsoring the Armidillo’s band exchange trip. This is in addition to our on-going activities with Friends of Yate Station, the Yate Town Council Environmental Steering Group and the Sodbury & Yate Business Association.

“Shopping Centre activities are a key element of our annual schedule and we try to ensure novel and entertaining fun so that the Centre is more than just a shopping location but is also the heart of the community. Good examples of this are the Christmas lights switch-on featuring Steps and the Traditional Beach event staged in July which drew record numbers to the centre and gave a very summer feel to what has been a very dull summer.”

2012 has been a very successful year for the Yate team: one of the highlights of the year was winning the Amberol Cup for the Best Business Floral Display in the 2012 South West in Bloom Awards, as part of Yate’s contribution to the RHS Britain in Bloom competition. Earlier in the Year Andy received the  runner-up trophy in the industry recognised national Sceptre Awards for Shopping Centre Manager of the Year 2012 (Medium Centre), a reflection of his success in managing the Shopping Centre through difficult times.