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Walkden Town Centre (Ellesmere Centre) : 500,000 Sq. Ft, £80 Million Mistake? : UK Dead Mall Tour
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- Опубліковано 25 сер 2021
- Welcome to Walkden Town Centre, previously known as The Ellesmere Centre. Possibly one of the UK's largest dead malls, square foot for square foot, and almost certainly one of the costliest. £80 million of investment and counting...
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In this dead mall video we check out a few different wings of this shopping centre, get into its history and try to figure out some of the reasons it's struggling. We also highlight some of the mall's beautiful architectural features and unique approach to vacant space.
One of the channel's longest videos to date, but there really is just that much to check out here. Hope you enjoy the video!
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So sad what happened to the old market hall and shopping centre. Used to love going there as a kid and remember it being so busy. Hope the people who thought of this ‘new idea’ are proud of themselves after destroying what was a busy shopping centre and replacing it with what u see in this video. A real shame. A great video and accurate description
Grew up there and before they wasted all that money on it it was always busy loved going there when I was a teenager the market was great too
I'm from Walkden, and there are a few inaccuracies. "Walkden Town Centre (2010)", was "The Ellesmere Centre (1995ish-2010)" previously "St Ouen Centre (1960's - 1990's)" before that there was terrace housing and a mill with mill pond (the boat shed). The original supermarket at that location was "Scan", there was a Tesco but that was else where, then closed when the bought out Scan and rebranded the Scan supermarket. The "Walkden Gateway", library and health centre never opened or operated in the shopping centre, its the other side of Bolton road as its a PFI building. The old tesco roof flooded the store a number of times, thats why they had to rebuild, and shopping centre roof has leaked since it was built in the 1990's. The centre and retail park are 2 different properties owned by the same "tax efficient" property company in the Isle of Mann.
Cheers for the extra insights, Olav! Finding information online (especially about days gone by) on such a niche subject can be a little tricky.
Thanks for documenting this! That used furniture shop in the market has since moved to a stall in the actual mall, almost no stalls left in that market at all, definitely agree with the liminal space comparison!
Ooh thanks for the update! So me2u is no longer fighting the good fight in the market after all, lol.
@@DeadMallWalking also where that furniture store is there used to be a quality save to the right hand side of it
The fact that I’ve been into that Tesco many times and only recently even noticed that the mall exists isn’t a good sign. The shops closest to the Tesco entrance seem to be the busiest. But the mall is just a really confusing layout which is 90% empty
Not a good sign at all...haha. Agreed, it's such a warren to get around!
To answer your question about malls with outer shops: here in the US, they can be pretty hit or miss. Sometimes they'll help to keep a mall alive, while other times they'll help accelerate its demise. I think it depends on how much traffic the mall gets in the first place, and whether or not there's enough inside the mall to warrant coming in. In my town, there's a strip mall with a very small indoor section that was built in the early 60s - the outdoor section is thriving, whereas the only things keeping the indoor section alive are a gym and a DMV. Bottom line, it varies.
The little shops that are doing well at the top walkway are the hairdressers, barbers, and nail technicians that are long established businesses. There's the carpet place that seems to be holding on, and a place that sells crystals, candles etc. Other than that the rent is WAY too much and the only shops that are doing well are near the Tesco entrance. Outside booming, retail park booming. It's just nobody walks through the Mall anymore because there's nothing there, people can't afford the rent.
All I would say for many years this indoor precinct while not thriving was a fairly busy place! I remember the likes of Rumbelows and decent toy shops etc..Even though it is New its just a shell in many ways over the original place, I also think the video makes it look an awful lot bigger than it actually is when you walk around it. I actually worked very briefly there in the 90s at a pet shop and the place was fairly busy it was right besides the furniture stall towards the end of the video... Great video, you should check out Swinton precinct too
5:15 that greggs closed at end of March this year, i work in the b&m facing tesco!
Yes I work with you hello bran 😊😊
I could just eat a Greggs pasty
Jackies spin a disc... One of the main reasons to go to Walkden when I was growing up. The "Market" was busy and Scan was a giggle. The Pembroke halls was always busy plus the indian resteraunt (cant remember the name) that always had a naan bread stuck on the ceiling. Finally the cinema (unit 4).. The times they are a changing.
And the worst part is? There’s no going back 🥲 But you just know there’s a good story behind a naan bread getting stuck on the ceiling 😂
It was maharagas then turned to kings Chinese restaurant
I must have already left LH and Walkden by then. Strange really, Im living in Queensland Australia and truly hope the memories never leave.
I remember as a child seeing all the empty units in this shopping centre and wondering when new shops would take their places
so many years later and they’re still all empty
I think the majority of units that are empty these days will never be filled again 🥲
It’s nice seeing this dead mall/shopping centre format being applied to the U.K.
Another great video. Really nice large mall and I like the moving walkways. A quick google maps search and I see that Walkden like many US suburbs has no high street/main street so without a proper shopping area the mall filled in the missing piece and I guess the new name reflects that. They might be able to attract small local shops once the fear that COVID will lead to future lockdowns is over which might be sooner than people think but time will tell.
Thank you! Yeah, it’s on what I would guess you would call the Main Street in town, but there’s not a ton of shops etc. around besides the mall and retail park.
Its about rent prices I live in Walkden the rents are to high so no one wants to come we have lost more than half the shops we had because they couldn't afford the rents
It used to be the main street when it didnt have a roof but after they sold it they pushed out all the locals with stupidly expensive rent and none of the big retailers wanted anything to do with it except Tesco.
I remember when I was young there was a quality save and a newsagents in the market place areas
I used to go to Walkden Town centre as a child when it was all open and the market hall was under the Pembroke halls. It was a thriving town centre but when they renovated it by making small units in the middle and the roof on, they put the rents up so much that all the long standing businesses in the shops and market hall were forced to close. It is such a waste that to get businesses to open up again they need to charge less rent or give 3 months free as an incentive to bring businesses and the people back
I remember a sign on the wool shop window in the old market hall saying.. "closed due to massive rise I rent”.
Do you remember Rumbelows etc
Fascinating. I live in Walkden and go to the centre most weeks but to the Tesco and the outdoor mall. When you see how busy the car parks are you’d think the centre would be busy but only the Tesco / B&M section and the outside mall. Interestingly B&M is supposed to be a very profitable store. You didn’t mention the new youth club that has opened up in one of the old units and also a charity has workshop space there. The charity has set up a chatty bench project in the centre which is interesting. Personally I think there’s an opportunity to bring in different services such as doctor’s surgery, dentists, social enterprises, managed office and community spaces. The biggest issue is the rent and their business rate liability must be huge. Retail options are not the solution for this place.
Tesco store started out as a small unit in St Ouen Centre That my mother managed for a while. They then took over the Scan store. The market hall was operating into the early 80s that I know of.
Christ, some parts of that mall are so empty and clean that you’d think they had just finished building the place!
Very true. Certainly doesn’t look more than a decade old...I think maybe they’ve just constantly been revamping and refreshing parts of it since it went up.
This reminds me so much of the su derland bridges shopping center, not to old, with clear signs of major investment, but the center is just dying, debnems just closed, which used to be a 3 story staple store, Disney closed a few months ago, etc etc
Great video. I absolutely love your channel. Please could you do a feature on the Stretford Mall in Manchester. It’s a 1960s Mall. They will demolish most of it soon. The area is being gentrified. The working class shops removed, indoor sections demolished, and replaced with middle class coffee shops. It is loved by the community, one of the original Arndale Centres. I remember the fountains as a child. Would make a great subject to record before it’s gone.
Thank you for the tip, mate! It looks quite a bit like one up north I’ve been meaning to cover for a while. Finding it tough to get out on road trips atm due to work stuff, but I’d definitely like to cover this one if I get the chance!
I live locally and shop here. I'm not sure what the issue is with vacant units. Management really needs to keep on top of maintenance. I joked once that there would soon be one bucket for each tile to catch the many water leaks. Moving walkways are frequently down for maintenance, and it takes weeks before they're returned to working order. Many times, it seems the staff also turn off walkways leaving you to manually hike your way up them, presumably to save on the electricity bill? If the centre has an air-conditioning and heating system, then it's never turned on. There's a great cafe on the upper floor but during the cold months they struggle to keep the area warm because of the seemingly penny-pinching attitude towards indoor temperature control.
The place has potential, and it will be interesting to know what the economic problems management are having in filling all those units.
I remember maybe like 5/6 years ago there was a decent bit of traffic in the market area
I remember going to the markets and them being full of people. By around 2018 I remember a sharp decline of stalls.Tesco is usually way more busier though.
Yup, the one place that seemed to have no shortage of footfall when I was there was Tesco!
Wow, Winders carpets is still going! It’s been around for decades
The rent is so expensive that most business’s and small community based business can’t afford to set up there. Such a shame as the space has been empty for years. What a waste. :(
Supposedly there are 200 buckets because there are 200+ holes in the roof and if they don’t have enough buckets they use wheelie bins. That’s what me and a friend were told. So fix the holes in the roof if they are there.
I can confirm there were definitely plenty of buckets around...
@@DeadMallWalking There plenty there today too, there always is.
Wow Walkden mall what can I say about it big massive buckets all over the place and in some places it's not finished
Pretty much bang on the money there, Allan. So many buckets...
I remember when the wall of shops was near full, which really wasn’t that long ago. Kinda sad it’s a ghost mall nowadays
If thy lowered the rents more businesses would come..
Agreed, but I would guess the issue is that lowering rents by too much sets a precedent for what they can change and makes it difficult to raise them back up if/when the centre is performing better.
Great video! What were the previous biggest Tesco stores? I’d love to hear about them
Thank you! I don't actually know about that but, according to Wikipedia, the St Helens shop comes pretty close to this one. Honestly, I'm surprised that this one takes the crown rather than a freestanding megastore on the outskirts of somewhere.
It basically is free standing, the car park is underneath. There's one in Salford centre with the same idea which is totally free standing which was built later, but didn't take the crown. Funny enough they built a huge Tesco's in Farnworth which is about 2 miles from Walkden, all of them seem to do really well.
No one can afford the rent otherwise there would be more shops.
People just go to Tesco there as it’s that massive, people don’t spare a thought for the emptiness of the centre.
There’s still some good shops
But not enough.
Long gone are the better days in the 80’s, 90’s when there was great shops and my personal favourite shop Tandy.
I like in North Yorkshire now and miss Walkden
But I come back as much as possible to see family.
Another good dead mall is Queesmere Observatory in Slough. It's not as dead as somewhere like Walkden Town Centre, but it's still pretty quiet and even H&M and Next have left it.
Hey, that does look pretty dead! If I'm in the area, I'll try to swing by and grab some footage :)
Soon to be demolished. British land own both the Malls in the Town, and the town centre has been dying for decades. Marks closed, then Debenhams went bust. Plans are soon to be submitted for a complete redevelopment of the town centre. The remaining shops will be consolidated in the Observatory centre. The queensmere demolished with 1500 new apartments, 500,000 sq ft of office space and 100,000 sq ft or ground floor retail and leisure, which is a big reduction. They will then demolish the Observatory centre and do the same thing again.
@@martincurrie6243 What about Primark and TK Maxx?
@@EverydayEverything360 Shuffle them between shopping centres. I presume they will be offered space in the new retail units. With a smart town centre and non hideous car park, might tempt next and H&M back
I live close to Mall of America in MN, they are very spikey about who they allow building near their mall, they have allowed an IKEA, a few restaurants, that's about it. There's a lot of empty land around it, almost like a wasteland. Apartment buildings, hotels, and offices have gone up in recent years. I think in the UK these US-style plazas that are going up, have been detrimental to our town centres, much like in the US, where many downtowns have died in favour of ugly, car-centric suburban hellscapes. It breaks my heart that it's now happening in my home country, these developers need to come to the US to see what has become of most American downtowns, but I fear that's already happening, I know my hometown, Slough, has been murdered by out-of-town development.
I love watching US dead malls, but something about seeing UK dead malls is really creepy when you recognise the sinage. Is the word liminal?
Liminal seems to have all sorts of applications, but I think it works here! Know what you mean, like there’s an extra dimension of familiarity around UK spots.
Would feel unsafe working there and walking around there. Shame all the shops that are still open can't group together.
I work there and there are very liminal shots in this
Winders Carpets, are they still going? Bloody hell.
The "Dead Area" of Walkden Town Centre is set to be demolished later next year to make way for green spaces.
It's been dying for at least 10 years, at this point it's like putting a sick old dog out of its misery.
when you said "2010", I whispered "oh g o d".
Feel like just yesterday to you?
Lived in walkden all my life and in the 70s you could get everything you needed now your lucky if you get a quarter of what you need. It is awful and soulless I hate it .
walkden is very seggy i live here and its normally quite busy
Empty waste of money should of kept it like the 80s
The battle between progress and nostalgia rages on, haha. I get why companies attempt to update places, but unfortunately it doesn't always work out.
Had so much potential what a waste of space and money
Customers shop on line ,u can't expect people to come into towns ,online shopping has killed the high St,we were told to push it,I said this would happen, but sales assistants know nothing.
The old markets were the best and the owner of the land was a very very greedy man charged rents that no one could ever afford, also someone in the market refused to leave until they got more money.. because of the delay the shops pulled out hence empty shops.
Same here in USA. Blame Amazon. People scared to shot with Covid. what a shame. used to be a place to relax, shop and socialize. no more. anyway, good job my friend in the UK. From another Pocket 2 user, Marty of Marty Sender You Tube. I use mine for music. p.s. major national retailers like Target, Sears, many others are going belly up this year. O'well.
Thanks Marty, good to hear from you. Yes, I think malls are in for a tough time in the next few years. Maybe even tougher than the last few have been!
Amazon doesn't close popular Cafes, high rent does.
wow a population of 35k and they built this? what were they thinking?!
I think the assumption was that the big Tesco concept store could support and sustain everything around it. Hasn’t been the case from what I can tell 😕
There's always been people travelling from surrounding areas to Walkden. Little Hulton, Farnworth, Ellenbrook, Boothstown, Over Hulton, Worsley, and even Swinton. Despise the empty mall, it still has the biggest range of shops without having to go to the Trafford Centre or City centres, and Bolton is just dead now.
It used to be really busy because people from other towns nearby would coke to do their shopping here. The main reason it’s so empty is because the units are ridiculously expensive
Should have watched this before opening the shop
Oh, what's your shop? Honestly, I believe a business can be successful anywhere with the right marketing and a loyal customer base. Keep at it! :)
It’s not my shop it’s my dads it’s a perfume/bag store
At 0:58 the travelators still work
Yup, they're still going strong!
The days of huge brick and mortar retail is over. The malls are all on borrowed time.
A absolute joke more buckets than b nq roof leaking travellaters that new work nor do the lifts could be a busy centre if the management would lower the rents, until then it will remain a ghost 👻 town
I hope that place stays open, it just needs advertised and maintained better.
Its occupancy is decent in certain parts of the mall. Not incredible, but decent. I think bringing more retailers in might help, but the retail park has hurt the chances of doing that.
@@DeadMallWalking H&M and Next would help, even if they were small, 1 floor units.
@@DeadMallWalking Those lifts at the back near Tesco both have destroyed inside indicators despite only being installed in 2010. The maintenance there must be terrible. Almost every time I went there, at least 1, (sometimes even 2) have been out of service. Also that lift in the older part near the Post Office was out of service for ages apparently.
@@DeadMallWalking Found something weird, on the website it has all of the retail park stores listed.
@@EverydayEverything360 Just FYI, the lift by (what was) the post office was in operation when I was there. So that's something I guess? haha. And I guess it makes sense that the retail park stores are all listed; still hoping it will pull traffic into the mall, I assume.
What did it look like 8 years ago?
That's a good question! I don't remember looking up any pictures for this video, but I'm sure there must be some around on Google...
Pretty much the same, but it had more shops around the square it also included to big Cafes, the Greggs was there, a Jewelers, quality save (there's now a big one on the retail park) the rent just got too high for people and the more it emptied, the less people walked through.
Walked through here millions of times off my bonce on E's 🤣
Well, I don't think I saw you in there on this occasion, lol.
This is so sad
What a shame. 😭
I know! Not quite sure what the answer is here, either. The place has a good location and a bunch of retailers, but not many people seem to stray away from the Tesco end.
Soulless. With rents only big corrporations can afford. The mighty Tesco can sell everything cheaper, than any soul trader. The old market hall had everything. (including a smelly fresh fish stall)😁
So much potential in this place... Just a shame the fat cats who own it would rather use it as a tax dodge instead of lowering rents and enticing new businesses!
I guess Brits just do not like malls anymore, seems that way with Americans too...
Some of us still do, but it’s tough holding down the fort 🥲
Just in the Manchester area you have Manchester Arndale and Trafford Centre, which have over 75 million visitors a year between them. So it's not like every mall in the U.K. is dead, or no one goes to malls. This mall just seems like a misguided idea, to build a mall that size that location.
The U.S. has a lot more dead malls than the U.K. because so many more malls were built there in the first place. The U.S. has 23.5 square feet of retail per person, in the U.K. there's 4.5 square feet per person. An American city the size of Manchester would have way more malls, and competition between them would have left dead malls all over the place.
Interesting stats, thanks for sharing those! 🙌🏻
Think those under 40 yrs go online to get things because it's quicker and they grew up online. 40-70yr olds, have adapted to online as you can get anything you want and you don't have to drive through traffic find money for the car park, then you can't find the things you need. The first step to this was taking all the individual shops out of the town centre and grouping them miles from the town.....Don't believe anything can be done now.....from Wales In Britain.👋