Debenhams to have larger store in Bradford's Westfield development

7:00am Wednesday 12th September 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Hannah Postles, T&A Reporter

An artist’s impression of the new store An artist’s impression of the new store

Bosses behind Westfield ’s proposed shopping centre in Bradford have announced Debenhams has signed a deal to extend its store to three levels.

The Australian developer, which has yet to give a start date for its £275 million scheme, said the department store will now take 117,000 sq ft of floor space at the Broadway development – an increase on its original plan to open a 100,000 sq ft store over two levels.

Debenhams is one of three ‘anchor tenants’ for the project, for which planning permission was granted last year for 550,000 sq ft of retail and catering outlets, more than 70 shops and restaurants, 1,300 car park spaces and public areas.

Westfield will also lease 63,000 sq ft to Marks & Spencer, which has confirmed it would close its Darley Street store when its new outlet opens, and has confirmed retailer Next as a tenant, set to occupy 32,000 sq ft.

Duncan Bower, Westfield director of development, said: “We are delighted that Debenhams has decided to extend its planned store in the Broadway development.

“Debenhams’ expansion, along with the recent Marks & Spencer and Next announcements, demonstrates the strong interest from retailers to invest in Bradford and capitalise on the trading opportunity this relatively untapped retail market represents.”

Rob Hadfield, property director at Debenhams, added: “Debenhams is pleased to announce its expansion in the Broadway scheme. The larger format store will provide our shoppers with a greater range of product and improved access from the car park and visual impact of the store.”

Councillor Imran Hussain , deputy leader of Bradford Council, said he hoped the announcement would attract further retailers to the scheme.

He said: “This is another positive step in the right direction for Bradford as it demonstrates Debenhams’ confidence in the Westfield development and the city’s future.

“Along with the signing-up of Marks & Spencer and Next’s commitment to opening up a major store there, this announcement should spark more interest from other retailers.”

Westfield said it is continuing its leasing negotiations to secure final pre-let deals before construction begins.

Bill Giouroukos, director of operations, gave an update on the scheme to the British Council of Shopping Centres conference yesterday.

Comments(35)

collos25 says...
7:16am Wed 12 Sep 12

A Bobby Darin hit springs to mind "Dreaming"

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bingleybantam says...
7:40am Wed 12 Sep 12

But news on a start date? Come on T&A do your job and ask the questions that the Bradford public want answers to rather than reprint a press release or just become the mouthpiece of the council.

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BD16 says...
7:48am Wed 12 Sep 12

Is this new news or is it just a rehash of old news like the M&S announcements?

Only 338,000 square feet to go before it's full.

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Old Dave says...
7:56am Wed 12 Sep 12

These anouncments mean nothing if it does'nt get built!
and still nobody is asking what happens to the rest of the city centre if westfield does eventually happen. The only snippet we have is that M&S will close their shop on DArley Street. all westfield will do now is move the whole if its built. All the reputable retailers in the Kirkgate will move to westfield and we are left with a hole at the top of town rather than the bottom. This is akin to using a sticking plaster to treat a shark bite - eventually the person will still bleed to death, it will just be prolonging the pain a little bit longer!

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collos25 says...
8:01am Wed 12 Sep 12

Ah but then you can demolish the top half of Bradford and create a big hole and plant a few trees and grass - sound familiar.

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Happy Bloke says...
8:19am Wed 12 Sep 12

That's another nice artists impression. It's a bit misleading though - as it shows the shop as being built. And people shopping there.

Sorry for the negativity, but this is just the usual propaganda.....

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Avro says...
8:20am Wed 12 Sep 12

Westfailed strilke again with yet another lame duck story!

How is this good news?

This will mean that there will be at least one less retailer in the overall scheme because of Debenhams having taken up more floorspace!

Why not just build a huge Debenhams and have done with this farcical mess!

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Thee Voice of Reason says...
8:23am Wed 12 Sep 12

Councillor Hussain said he hoped the announcement would attract further retailers to the scheme.
Well this really is old news and it appears it hasn't attracted retailers hence why its still not built.
No start date and a rehash of previous stories. Once again the people of Breadford are let down.

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modman61 says...
8:39am Wed 12 Sep 12

All well and good. What people want is a confirmed start date. Then they might just believe the Wesfield centre might happen.

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Avro says...
8:42am Wed 12 Sep 12

The loss of M&S from Darley Street means the city centre has gained nothing other than a nice new M&S, and will leave a huge retail unit and warehouse in its wake.

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JAtkinson says...
9:36am Wed 12 Sep 12

I think this is broadly positive as it shows Westfield are looking at building rather than selling the hole.

The next step is for Westfield, the Council and the business community to attract more tenants making building it soon a priority and good business. The flip side is how creative and proactive the Council will be in attracting people businesses to the surrounding streets and the wider centre, so that the Westfield, when it is built, it's not an oasis of activity surrounded by empty shops.

Some tough decisions to make this really work for Bradford but I really hope it does.

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Old Dave says...
9:48am Wed 12 Sep 12

The only real answer to getting companies to re open or come to bradford is free rent and/or rate relief for retail in the city centre. Its a travesty when a building/land owner raises rent to an unworkable level, and would rather sit on an empty building than let it at a lower rate. Look at what was sportshoes on Hall Ings as an example!
Get shops open, get the right people spending in them and watch the city grow.

Thats what Leeds did 20 years ago! No or low rent and no or low rates. short term sacrifice for long term gain. Thats why Leeds retail is still growing and developing at a time of recession everywhere else!

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angry bradfordian says...
9:51am Wed 12 Sep 12

Nice bit of spin to say that it's been extended the store from 2 floors to 3 floors when the actual floor space had increased by only 17%!

I'm sure that extra 40x40 metres is going to make the further retailers flood in!

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Avro says...
10:09am Wed 12 Sep 12

"Westfield said it is continuing its leasing negotiations to secure final pre-let deals before construction begins."

Same old tale and no further forward. Debenhams were already signed up, as are M&S and NEXT.

So what other retailers have been secured since the anouncement of NEXT back in July?

Considering that there are 70 retailers planned, and at least a 50% pre-let needed before construction gets underway, then it seems that with only three signed tenants, this project has a very very long way to go before constuction workers are back on site, let alone a completion date.

Even with a 50% pre-let, how long will it take to fill the remaining 50%, because they have clearly struggled to attract the initial 50% which is stil way off being reached.

Westfield might get built, but the end result could end up a lame duck if fails to attract enough takers for the remaining 50%, a few emty units is fine, but 50% empty of a long period will kill it dead!

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Joedavid says...
10:37am Wed 12 Sep 12

If things so good then Westfield put your money where your mouth is and start building now.

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Baildonboy says...
11:16am Wed 12 Sep 12

Surely,this is good news from Debenhams - once it's opened I won't have to travel to White Rose centre anymore.

Would be nice to see abit more postivity from all the doomsayers on this website !

Now Next,M & S & Debenhams on board,I predict the rest will follow very quickly.

It's all about anchor tenants & we've got 3 now.

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Markssmith says...
11:20am Wed 12 Sep 12

Yet more hot air being discussed about this shopping centre... Is this thing just going to be made of vapour or is there going to be any solid building materials used within the next 100 years to build the thing?

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vikksy says...
11:32am Wed 12 Sep 12

It was early September when someone posted Westfield were considering a sale of the controversial stalled shopping centre development. Wonder what's going on.

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angry bradfordian says...
11:57am Wed 12 Sep 12

vikksy wrote:
It was early September when someone posted Westfield were considering a sale of the controversial stalled shopping centre development. Wonder what's going on.
It was mentioned in the Retail Week magazine in mid-August. Strange it seems to have been ignored by councillors and the local press!

http://www.retail-we
ek.com/property/west
field-mulls-a-sale-o
f-its-bradford-site/
5039589.article

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Thee Voice of Reason says...
12:09pm Wed 12 Sep 12

I really wish there were some proper reporting on all this. The extention of floor space deal, does it have a time limit attached? For example if this place isn't built by say 2015 are the signed tenants contracts null and void?
Can we have some more detail rather than simply pumping out the same story please.

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Biggus Dickus says...
12:38pm Wed 12 Sep 12

If only someone had thought of throwing some hardcore down, and making it a `park here all day for £3 site` whilst waiting for Westfield to commence work, the council could have afforded to build there own shopping centre !!

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collos25 says...
12:58pm Wed 12 Sep 12

"The next step is for Westfield, the Council and the business community to attract more tenants making building it soon a priority and good business. The flip side is how creative and proactive the Council will be in attracting people businesses to the surrounding streets and the wider centre, so that the Westfield, when it is built, it's not an oasis of activity surrounded by empty shops."



They have been trying to do that for ten years the results are a big nil

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yezboss says...
1:22pm Wed 12 Sep 12

There will be plenty of room seeing as there are very few other tenants.

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Avro says...
1:38pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Baildonboy wrote:
Surely,this is good news from Debenhams - once it's opened I won't have to travel to White Rose centre anymore.

Would be nice to see abit more postivity from all the doomsayers on this website !

Now Next,M & S & Debenhams on board,I predict the rest will follow very quickly.

It's all about anchor tenants & we've got 3 now.
NEXT is not an anchor tenant, and Debenhams and M&S have been signed up for many months, so how has tenant signing progressed other than Debenhams taking more floorspace?

Westfield role out the same old clap trap becauae peole like you fall for it, basically they have little esle to say, but in August the chief exec did say this much:

"We may sell it but it will play out in a way which pleases the people of Bradford.”

Baildon must have turned into Cloud Cuckoo land!

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RuggerTyke says...
1:56pm Wed 12 Sep 12

They'd be better off using one of the many empty buildings and refitting.

They're presence alone would attract more retailers.

BMDC need to buy the land back create a City Centre but they're being held to ransom by Westfield which appears to suit both parties.

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collos25 says...
2:45pm Wed 12 Sep 12

The old buildings have had no or little maintenance done on them for years they require thousands spending on them economics say it will be much cheaper to knock them down and wait.

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a reasonable sort of chap says...
3:24pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Debenham's? Big deal. Doubt if I'll ever shop in there. We don't need any more shops, the ones we have are struggling to survive as it is. Still, it will provide more scope for shoplifting when times get hard and Council Tax Benefit is scrapped....

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a reasonable sort of chap says...
3:26pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Baildonboy wrote:
Surely,this is good news from Debenhams - once it's opened I won't have to travel to White Rose centre anymore.

Would be nice to see abit more postivity from all the doomsayers on this website !

Now Next,M & S & Debenhams on board,I predict the rest will follow very quickly.

It's all about anchor tenants & we've got 3 now.
Who cares? Who the hell wants more shops? I've never been to White Rose in my life, nor do I shop in Leeds. I can get all I need in Bradford.

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Yorkshire Lass says...
4:30pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Well at least Leeds City Council have well and truly got their act together. Their new £300 million shopping centre is due to open on the 2lst March 2013. I think they have had to build this for all of the trade they get from Bradford.

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angry bradfordian says...
4:35pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Yorkshire Lass wrote:
Well at least Leeds City Council have well and truly got their act together. Their new £300 million shopping centre is due to open on the 2lst March 2013. I think they have had to build this for all of the trade they get from Bradford.
And there's a planning application imminent for a new shopping centre in the Eastgate Quarter and an extension to the White Rose Centre.

Makes Westfield's constant excuse about the recession seem a bit curious!

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bobbyo says...
6:31pm Wed 12 Sep 12

early learning centre is closing down next month too..

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mad matt says...
7:37pm Wed 12 Sep 12

JAtkinson wrote:
I think this is broadly positive as it shows Westfield are looking at building rather than selling the hole.

The next step is for Westfield, the Council and the business community to attract more tenants making building it soon a priority and good business. The flip side is how creative and proactive the Council will be in attracting people businesses to the surrounding streets and the wider centre, so that the Westfield, when it is built, it's not an oasis of activity surrounded by empty shops.

Some tough decisions to make this really work for Bradford but I really hope it does.
Or adding some hypthetical value to the hole when they do decide to pull out and sell it - - - Eh?

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basil fawlty says...
8:38pm Wed 12 Sep 12

Westfield's mention of "final pre-lets" could literally be interpreted as the final few pre-lets which might make a restart of site construction as early as spring 2013. This assumes that detailed plans are well advanced and only require tweaking before going out to tender and subsequent orders are placed and fabrication started. Fingers crossed!

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SamsonJ says...
10:02pm Wed 12 Sep 12

I really hope this development happens but cannot help but feel suspicious that this article was submitted on the same day as an article reported-on the Retail Weeks website that "Property firm Westfield has submitted an earlier than expected planning application for the £1bn redevelopment of Croydon"
I want to be positive but think Croydon might see a shopping centre before Bradford does.

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birday says...
11:28am Thu 13 Sep 12

collos25 wrote:
Ah but then you can demolish the top half of Bradford and create a big hole and plant a few trees and grass - sound familiar.
LOL!!
.
Possibly, but I thinks some of these buildings will be converted into living space (future slums) for Bradfords new arrivals. I bet they're desperate to get out of the many cellars they're currently living in ... feel so sorry for the children.

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