St George's Shopping Centre (Preston)

St George's Shopping Centre, formerly The Mall Preston and The Mall St George, is a shopping centre in the city of Preston, Lancashire, England.

St George's Shopping Centre
The Friargate entrance in 2002
LocationPreston, Lancashire, England
Opening date22 March 1966 (1966-03-22)
ManagementKen Williams
OwnerAviva Investors Property Trust
No. of stores and services106[1]
Total retail floor area270,000 sq ft (25,000 m2)[1]
No. of floors2
Parking410 spaces[1]
WebsiteSt George's Shopping

History

The shopping centre opened on 22 March 1966, as St George's Shopping Centre. It was originally an open air centre, and was roofed over during refurbishment in 1981. It was further refurbished in 1999.[2] In May 2004, when The Mall Company took over the centre, they were greeted with an ageing shopping centre.

The shopping centre was rebranded as The Mall, and a massive development scheme was planned. Small stalls, main shops, cafes, restaurants, toilets, and escalators were overhauled.

The introduction of television screens in the shopping centre has given information and news to the shoppers in the centre. The Mall Company also put 'Ask Me' points in the centre, so that shoppers could ask members of staff directions and other information. In March 2010, the shopping centre was acquired by Aviva Investors for £87 million.[3][4]

In September 2010, The Mall was rebranded under its original name St George's Shopping Centre.

In 2016, the Fishergate entrance to the shopping centre was refurbished,[5] as well as the corridors leading from the Fishergate and Lune Street entrances to the central rotunda.

In 2019, the Lune Street entrance and corridor were closed due to most of the shop units being vacant. Despite the corridor only being refurbished 3 years earlier, it was removed and a Matalan store now takes its place.[6]

Centre information

The centre is arranged around a large circular glass roofed rotunda in the centre, where there is a Costa Coffee, which was originally known as "The Bullring", when it was open air.

Radiating from the rotunda are large halls and promenades, lined with shops and stalls. Glass roofs and walls are also evident in the centre. A two floor hall leads to Friargate, with another hall leading to Fishergate on the upper floor. The rotunda also has a third floor with offices and access to the centre's car park.

St George's is located between the city's two main shopping streets of Fishergate and Friargate, and runs its own multi-storey car park above the centre, which can be accessed from Lune Street. There is a Preston Park & Ride bus stop outside the centre's Lune Street entrance, and Fishergate is served by several bus routes. The centre is within half a mile of Preston railway station and Preston bus station.

References
  1. St George's Shopping: Visitor Info
  2. Holland, P. (1996) Nostalgic Preston, True North Publishing, Halifax, ISBN 1-900463-50-4
  3. Robinson, Ben; Coates, David (9 March 2010). "Preston city shopping centre sold for £87m". Lancashire Evening Post. Johnston Press. Retrieved 9 March 2010.
  4. Mall sells St George's shopping centre, Preston
  5. "New look entrance planned for St George's Shopping Centre". Blog Preston. 13 January 2016.
  6. "A new Matalan store is to move into Preston's St George's Shopping Centre". Lancashire Post. 19 April 2019.

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