A Strategy for Shopping
Along with essential circulation, meeting and conviviality, shopping will continue to be the most visible activity to epitomise the function of the City centre at the heart of the City. The City centre will continue to be the preferred location for all “higher order” shopping, shopping that is reliant on, or needs to be accessible to, the greatest proportion of residents in the sub-region and beyond.
The Vision for shopping in Durham is that it should be improved in eight ways:
- More “speciality retailing”, in particular niche and independent outlets
- General uplift in the quality and variety of conventional retailing
- New “anchor stores”
- Retention and improvement of food retailing, catering to all tastes and budgets
- More convenience retailing for local users
- The creation of a retail circuit
- Emphasis on general retail skills and customer Service
- Long term provision for retail redevelopment and Expansion
MORE “SPECIALITY RETAILING”
More “Speciality Retailing” by independent retailers exploiting the unique setting and ambience of the City centre and the diverse shopping clientele, including a business development programme that promotes new retail businesses, and the creation of new retail space in appropriate locations and on appropriate terms through building refurbishment and new development. Preferred locations are shown on the plan and include:
An Enhanced Market
A programme of improvement, reorganisation and enlargement of market activities, both in the Market Hall and in the re-landscaped Market Place, enhancing the role of the market as a retail “incubator”. The proposals for enlargement of the Market Hall by insertion of a mezzanine floor had to be scaled back because of listed building concerns. This issue could be re-visited in the light of a commitment in this Vision to the expansion of opportunities for retail entrepreneurs, as part of a wider economic development initiative.
In addition, appropriate additional sites for market stalls should be considered, in consultation with the Durham Market Company, to expand the amount of flexible space available to small traders.
Better regular outdoor markets
Working closely with Durham Market Company and its traders to improve the presentation, mix and operation of the regular outdoor markets - balancing the needs of price-conscious shoppers with those seeking a more distinctive product. This will include re-evaluating the frequency and layout of the outdoor markets, based on customer feedback.
Speciality markets
Speciality markets can broaden the choice of goods for local/regional shoppers, as well as creating an attraction for visitors. Well-run speciality markets can create a sense of theatre, adding to the ambience of the City centre. A wider variety of speciality markets in the Market Place, aiming at regional shoppers and visitors could be programmed. Other occasional venues should also be considered, based on clearly agreed guidelines.
Claypath
Refurbishment of existing retail premises and the potential redevelopment of the western frontage for mixed use to incorporate space for new retail enterprises at ground floor level.
The North End of North Bailey and Elvet Bridge
Consolidation of existing “speciality retail” activities on the approach to the Peninsula, the Cathedral and the Castle, the main visitor route.
Elvet Bridge will provide a connection, via the new Elvet Place to:
Old Elvet
Distinctive “speciality retailing” that is capable of being housed in the lower floors of listed residential
properties without the need for significant building alterations, particularly to frontages. Such uses
might include: high fashion; arts and crafts; books; art galleries; jewellery; high value gifts; antiques; etc.
In particular the Vision sees potential for these premises providing shopfronts for speciality “e-retailers” that draw on a national and international market for their goods and services via the internet, but are based, and have their shopfront presence, in Durham.
These ‘showrooms’ might be linked to warehousing and call centre facilities in edge or out of town
locations; ensuring a lower cost base and less traffic intrusion in the City centre.
This will require high quality telecommunications infrastructure in the area to optimise use of the Web. Such an initiative has the potential to involve retailers, City centre management, the technology transfer expertise of the County Council and One NorthEast and the R&D resources of the University, who currently own the freehold of the premises.
Fowlers Yard and the Market Vaults
Consolidation of the existing craft and arts sales through:
- new development to the rear of Silver Street properties;
- use of the ground floor areas of new development on Back Silver Street Riverside;
- use of vaults below the Market Hall and consequent alterations to the street façade;
- a new gallery or shop in Fowlers Yard as a jewel building.
The Vennels
Refurbishment and reuse of the lower floors of any buildings within the vennels to create low cost speciality retail space.
Defining Speciality Retailing
In this strategy, speciality retailing is defined as the sale of distinctive goods by specialist, largely independent retailers that rely on the strength of the shopping centre as a whole to attract adequate custom but which create a unique identity for the City centre as a regional shopping destination. In the main sales margins are good but sales volumes may be small and overall business profitability relatively low. These businesses require low cost accommodation and are to be found in peripheral City centre retail locations.
This Strategy for Speciality Retail is the top retail priority and should be initiated in the short term, successful implementation will foster:
UPLIFT IN THE QUALITY AND VARIETY OF CONVENTIONAL RETAILING
A general uplift in the quality and variety of conventional retailing through promotion and management and through the refurbishment and redevelopment of appropriate sites, expanding into areas currently thought to be peripheral to the City’s shopping core. The overall aim is to enhance the richness of the shopping experience by improving the quality of retailers and their shops, and the diversity of goods offered. The most obvious areas for such change are:
Silver Street
A street that is becoming dominated by national chain stores and franchised shops selling a predictable variety of goods.
The Gates
Achieved through refurbishment and/or partial redevelopment of the shopping centre allied to improved connections within the City centre’s retail circuit.
North Road
Revitalisation of the street through new anchor stores, environmental improvements, reconnection of the street into the structure of the western side of the City centre and reconstruction of the bus station. Given North Road’s location, close to bus and train links and residential areas, a convenience retail element is appropriate.
NEW “ANCHOR STORES”
There are limited opportunities for new, large scale developments for anchor stores in the centre of Durham and the strategy for anchor stores relies more on the good and imaginative management of what exists rather than the creation of new space. Within the first twelve months discussions must be initiated with the key stakeholders – operators, landlords, developers and land owners – to explore the potential for a restructuring of anchor stores within Durham City centre. For example, the construction of a new food supermarket in North Road.
In the medium to long term the attraction of at least two new anchor stores to Durham that will increase the overall attractions of the City centre and induce higher footfall in adjoining streets. Such anchors will be well known, high street retailers operating large format stores in prime locations in the City centre that will attract shoppers and generate footfall in adjoining streets. These will require significant redevelopment of existing premises.
There are a number of locations in the City centre where such anchor stores could be located, over an extended period of time, listed in decreasing order of likely implementation in the Vision period (15 years):
The south end of The Gates Centre
The owners of The Gates have recently redeveloped the part of The Gates Centre fronting North Road and the approach to Framwellgate Bridge, a key “knuckle” in the shopping street network.
The Waitrose Store, The Gates Centre
The long term success of this store is largely reliant on the implementation of the proposed pedestrian link back to the Market Place as part of the retail circuit, presenting a new elevation to the Framwellgate/Leazes Road junction as a gateway development on the approaches to the City centre from the west and north west.
Woolworth/Marks and Spencer, Silver Street
Potential refurbishment of the stores in the heart of the City centre adjoining Silver Street and the Market Place to become flagship stores, either for the existing occupiers (or for other operators) if they chose to relocate within the City centre.
The Northwest End of North Road
Potential redevelopment of the block opposite the bus station at a prominent location on the western approach to the City centre, occupying a gateway site.
Redevelopment/Refurbishment of the anchor store, Prince Bishops Centre
Creation of an opportunity for a Department Store within the City centre as part of a strategy to reorganise existing tenancies.
A strategy for new anchor stores must be balanced by:
RETENTION AND IMPROVEMENT OF FOOD RETAILING
The maintenance of food retailing in the City centre, through the expansion and improvement of the Market and a new food store in North Road is very important to a large proportion of the population who use the City centre regularly. This can be satisfied by two means:
The Market
Enhancement of food shopping within the Market Hall and in outdoor markets.
North Road
Redevelopment of the north east end of North Road for a “Metro” scale small supermarket, in a location well related to the bus station and to the western approach to the City centre.
Ultimately, a strategy for anchor stores and food retailing will be dependent on the successful:
CREATION OF A RETAIL CIRCUIT
The strategy for shopping in the City centre recognises that, at present, all of the main shopping streets and spaces are retail dead-ends leading away from the Market Place. These require shoppers to retrace their steps and undermines the perception of the City centre as a diverse and rich shopping destination.
Instead, a new pedestrian link is proposed to connect the north east end of The Gates Centre across the River towards the Market Hall/Market Place. In this way The Gates Centre will no longer be a dead end but will have more connections back into the main retail area, increasing its attraction. This is considered to be a parallel action to the redevelopment of parts of the centre to house one or more anchor stores.
This new connection will also enhance the integration of speciality retail space in Claypath.
MORE CONVENIENCE SHOPPING FOR LOCAL PEOPLE
At present, convenience shopping facilities in the City centre are limited – this in turn drives people to out of town centres. To ensure the long-term viability of the City centre, more convenience shopping facilities should be encouraged in the City centre, not only at the high-priced, top-quality level but also at the goodvalue service and product level. This can be done through a combination of measures.
The new Park & Ride sites will enable shoppers to carry their purchases back to the car, without needing to drive to out of town retail centres. More short-term parking facilities in the City centre would also facilitate convenience purchases. In the longer term, Durham should consider offering drop-off points at convenient locations across the City, and home delivery, while increasing the frequency of public bus services to the outlying villages so that connections to the City centre from the villages rival those connections between villages and other regional centres.
EMPHASIS ON CITY CENTRE MANAGEMENT, GENERAL RETAIL SKILLS AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
Alongside this physical development strategy for shopping, there will be a series of initiatives aimed at:
- Investment in the management of the City centre in which the promotion and coordination of retailing will be a key element;
- Support programmes to enhance general retail and leisure management skills in the City centre, and to encourage entrepreneurship. These programmes would include training, mentoring, coaching and working with potential entrepreneurs to develop compelling new business ideas
- Vocational training programmes to enhance overall standards of customer care, - such as Durham’s award-winning Setting the Standard project - in which the retail sector will play a key part.
In the context of this Durham City Vision, City centre management is not about the administrative processes of keeping the place neat and tidy and managing a range of street based events. It is the proactive management and promotion of the City centre as an integrated commercial operation where all the key stakeholders are part of a partnership, supportive of the Vision and its recommended changes. Only in this way can the changes to the structure of retailing in the City centre be initiated to achieve wider benefits and be sustainable over the long term.
LONG TERM PROVISION FOR RETAIL REDEVELOPMENT AND EXPANSION
Over the duration of the Durham City Vision, successful transformation of the retail experience in the City centre will create demand for more retail floorspace in a City centre constrained by topography and a high quality and protected historic environment. This will require intensification of retail activity on existing retail sites rather than expansion onto adjoining non-retail sites. There are three opportunities for (relatively) large scale retail led redevelopment, anticipated towards the end of this Vision:
The Gates Shopping Centre
Comprehensive (or large scale) partial redevelopment of The Gates centre to create modern accommodation for general retail needs.
Prince Bishops Centre
Partial redevelopment of the existing centre to intensify the use of the site and create reconfigured retail space.
Woolworth and Marks and Spencer, Silver Street
In addition, if the refurbishment of the Woolworth and Marks and Spencer stores does not occur early in the process, or they are relocated to other parts of the City centre, this is a third site where redevelopment may be pursued, but its current servicing constraints will ultimately limit the scale of development.
