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Specsavers and Co-op Bank delay £30m town centre transformation
Multi-million pound plans to redevelop part of Newcastle town centre have been delayed – because demolition work cannot start on time. York Place, which is set to be knocked down as part of the large-scale regeneration project, should have been empty by now ready for the area to be cleared later this month.
But councillors at Newcastle’s cabinet meeting on Tuesday heard that the two remaining tenants are now not expected to move out until December or January. Demolition work will now take place in phases beginning in October this year to take account of Specsavers Hearing Centre and Co-operative Bank which are still open on the High Street side of the York Place precinct.
The demolition had been expected to begin in late June and should have been completed in December.
READ: Council kicks out jewellers as shop shuts down after 29 years
Council chiefs were awarded £3.2 million from the government’s Future High Street Fund to pay for the complex’s purchase and demolition and the relocation of affected businesses. Councillors at the cabinet meeting heard that the demolition works – which are expected to cost around £1.2 million – must be completed before the end of the Future High Street programme in March 2024.
They were asked to reach an agreement with contractor Willmott Dixon to demolish the existing building in York Place – which is also known as Astley Walk – and clear the way for two three- and four-storey buildings, featuring ground floor shops and food outlets and upper floor offices, with public open space between Ironmarket and Merrial Street.
Once the demolition is complete the council plans to create a new commercial and social space in the area, with new restaurant facilities, a leisure and music venue, the Astley Centre for Circus and Performing Arts, and offices.
There were 13 tenancies around the York Place area at the time notice to quit was served in July last year. Four businesses closed during 2022 and a further four decided this year that they would not relocate, including Kirkham’s Jewellers – which had been in Newcastle since 1994 and in its York Place location since 1999 – which shut its doors for the final time in March after choosing not to move elsewhere in the town centre.
Two stores – Holland and Barrett and Clive Mark Schoolwear – have already moved to other sites in the town centre, while the Cancer Research charity shop, formerly in Merrial Street, reopened this week in a new store in Castle Walk. The original deadline for businesses to move out of the precinct was March 31, although Cancer Research, Specsavers and the Co-operative Bank were granted an extension.
The cabinet report stated: “It has been estimated that the contract sum for the demolition contract will be in the order of £1.2m although the exact figure will be determined following confirmation of the relocation date of the final tenant and the resulting programme and phasing of the demolition works. This will be covered by the Future High Street Fund and adjustments within budgets. It is anticipated that demolition works will commence in October 2023 and be completed by March 2024.”
Borough councillor Stephen Sweeney said: “We’re hoping to get back to a bit of style, a bit of class. If you walk along Ironmarket and look up at the buildings, they’re not 1970s monstrosities they’re proper Georgian buildings and they look superb. I think this is the sort of image we’re trying to get for Newcastle.”
He added: “York Place holds an important position, linking the Ryecroft project to the wider town centre. Its transformation will be significant both in its own right and as part of the wider regeneration of the area.
“You’ll walk up the High Street, round the corner of the Guild Hall, and you’ll see these new building works there. It will be a brighter and airier situation than it is now, which is shabby and rundown and not very good at all.”
The York Place scheme is part of a £30 million regeneration of the Ryecroft area, which also includes an Aspire development, a 450-space multi-storey car park, and a 100-bed hotel.
A spokesperson for the Co-operative Bank said they were ‘working closely’ with the council to relocate the branch.
She said: “We have been made aware of the plans for the regeneration of the area surrounding one of our branches in Newcastle-under-Lyme. As a result, we are required to relocate our branch on the High Street, and have been working closely with the local council who are supporting us to do so. We will continue to work co-operatively with local stakeholders to resolve this in the coming months to ensure we continue to support our customers and the local community. We hope to have an update on our new location in the coming weeks and we will share any details with our customers well in advance of any move.”
A spokesperson for Specsavers said the hearing centre would relocate by December 11 at the latest.
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