Ropewalk Shopping Centre
A main entrance to the Ropewalk Shopping Centre in 2019
LocationNuneaton, Warwickshire, England
Coordinates52°31′18″N 1°28′10″W / 52.5218°N 1.4695°W / 52.5218; -1.4695
AddressChapel Street[1]
Opening date2005
ManagementBank of Ireland
OwnerUnknown[2]
Total retail floor area185,000 square feet (17,200 m2)[3]
No. of floors2
ParkingCar park (520 parking spaces)[4]
Websiteropewalknuneaton.co.uk
Side view of the Ropewalk as it appeared in 2009.

The Ropewalk Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. It has a glass roof (which is not connected to the building), two floors retail stores, including high street retailers, and also a car park.

History and impact

The Ropewalk Shopping Centre started life as the Queens Arcade.[5] For many years, the Queens Arcade was ageing and needed replacing, with many store units lying vacant or occupied by small, independent businesses.

In 2001, Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council decided to replace the arcade with a new shopping centre. An early design of a shopping centre with three floors, a bowling alley and a cinema was rejected by the Council, who in turn accepted a plan to build a Cinema and Bowling Alley in Bermuda Park, Nuneaton.

However, in 2003 and another redesign to the plan, a new scheme was submitted and received planning consent from the council. It included the plan to demolish the Queens Arcade for an all new modern shopping centre to be erected on land which was covered by the Queens Arcade and the Dugdale Car Parks and see the Shopping Centre slicing Dugdale Street in half. The project cost £60 million and was constructed between 2004 and 2005. The Main Shopping Centre also saw a 5 Storey 500 car parking spaces Car Park built next to it which is run by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council, this was built first to compensate the loss of car parking spaces due to the Shopping Centre's construction.

Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council owns the site that the Centre was built on and has the site leased out for 150 years.[6]

The centre has now been trading since 1 September 2005.[7] One major contract, which the Ropewalk helped bring to Nuneaton, was the arrival of American coffee giant Starbucks.[8] The coffeehouse opened its outlet (next to Marks and Spencer) on 4 June 2007. However, its tenure was short-lived and Starbucks left Nuneaton in 2009.[9]

In 2008 and 2009, The Ropewalk lost main business as the recession took hold, with Woolworths and Barratt Shoes closing up their stores, Blue Inc took over Barratt's Unit but the Woolworths Store was left empty.

In January 2010, the Bank of Ireland took control of the shopping Centre after previous owners called Broadway Capital owned by Irish Investor and Property Developer John McCann were liquidated with debts of up to £64 million, most of that money was owed to the BOI. BTW Shields was appointed by the Bank to run the Shopping Centre on its behalf, however this new management has stressed that the Shopping Centre is open for business as usual. The Bank of Ireland said they will run the Shopping Centre for the moment before selling it off.

In October 2010, the former Woolworths unit was taken over by TJ Hughes, who created 113 jobs for the town,[10] which seen the Council spend £2.6 million on renovating the unit and building a lift and escalators for the retailer.[11]

In August 2011, TJ Hughes had given up the former Woolworths unit.[12] The space was later taken on by 99p Stores[13] but this became a Poundland when the companies merged.[14][15]

On 5 October 2017, TJ Hughes returned to Nuneaton, but this time inside of the Ropewalk, occupying the former BHS premises.[16] They remained in this unit until they left in 2020.[17]

References

  1. ↑ "Contact". Ropewalk Nuneaton. Archived from the original on 16 October 2016. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  2. ↑ Harrison, Claire (15 July 2022). "Nuneaton's Ropewalk Shopping Centre has been sold". Nuneaton News. Retrieved 11 April 2023. Nuneaton's biggest shopping centre has been sold - but the new owner currently remains under wraps.
  3. ↑ "Nuneaton, Ropewalk Shopping Centre  :: Scheme Overview  :: Cushman & Wakefield". retailproperty.cushwake.com. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "Nuneaton, Ropewalk Shopping Centre  :: Scheme Overview  :: Cushman & Wakefield". retailproperty.cushwake.com. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  5. ↑ Harrison, Claire (13 February 2021). "Nuneaton town centre in the 80s and 90s". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 February 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021. Vehicles were allowed to travel through the town centre, the indoor market was buzzing and the Queens Arcade Shopping Centre stood proudly.
  6. ↑ "Receiver seizes Nuneaton's Ropewalk shopping centre". Coventry Telegraph. 4 February 2010. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021. The Ropewalk site is owned by Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council and is let on a 150-year lease.
  7. ↑ Coventry Live (2 August 2005). "New shopping centre set for grand opening". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 July 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2021. The massive multi-million pound shopping centre - Ropewalk, in Nuneaton - has been in development since early 2003. It will officially open on September 1, creating 350 jobs and housing 30 big-name stores.
  8. ↑ Waddington, Jenny (11 July 2011). "Nuneaton fighting for return to 'thriving best' after wave of shop closures". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021. One town which has suffered a wave of store closures is Nuneaton, which just six years ago was revelling in the arrival of American coffee giant Starbucks – attracted in part by the newly built Ropewalk Shopping Centre.
  9. ↑ Waddington, Jenny (19 October 2009). "Coffee chain Starbucks axes Nuneaton store". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 7 September 2021. A spokesperson for the company said: "Following a review of a small number of UK stores, we can confirm with regret that we have closed our coffeehouse in Nuneaton in an effort to ensure we have a strong foundation to support our long-term goals.
  10. ↑ "Nuneaton Town FC stars to open new TJ Hughes store". Coventry Telegraph. 6 October 2010. Archived from the original on 27 October 2011. Retrieved 7 September 2021. The big brand discount retailer will officially launch its brand new 24,000 sq ft store – which is based in the former Woolworths shop on Queen's Road
  11. ↑ Harrison, Claire (18 May 2021). "Council confirms discussions with 'well-known retail name' for former Woolworths store". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021. It spent £2.6m on refurbishing the building when Woolworths closed, including fitting escalators and a lift to entice TJ Hughes to move in.
  12. ↑ Gibbons, Duncan (18 August 2011). "TJ Hughes staff "very upset" after Coventry store closure confirmed". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on 15 March 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021. MORE than 50 jobs are to go with the closure of Coventry discount store TJ Hughes this weekend. Staff were "very upset" after being told the devastating news on Tuesday, although it was not made public until yesterday. The big budget retailer went into administration in June and 31 UK stores have already closed, including Nuneaton.
  13. ↑ Harrison, Claire (19 October 2020). "Poundland give closing date for Nuneaton shop". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on 22 October 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2021. The firm remained in town until 2011, then TJ Hughes left and 99p Stores moved in.
  14. ↑ Eccleston, Ben (19 September 2015). "Deal struck for Poundland to complete takeover of 99p Stores". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
  15. ↑ Harrison, Claire (24 August 2021). "Two national retailers in the running for former Woolworths store". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on 24 August 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021. Then when 99p Stores was taken over by Poundland, it became a Poundland and the infamous one pound rent deal was struck with the borough council.
  16. ↑ Harrison, Claire (29 September 2017). "TJ Hughes just days away from making Nuneaton comeback". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on 9 August 2019. Retrieved 7 September 2021. TJ Hughes is set to open in the former BHS store in the Ropewalk Shopping Centre on Thursday, October 5 - and marks its return to town after leaving six years ago.
  17. ↑ Harrison, Claire (30 July 2020). "Flagship high street store closes in Nuneaton". Coventry Telegraph. Archived from the original on 31 July 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
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