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Cabot’s Circus – High wire act?
Cabot Circus is the biggest city-centre regeneration project Bristol has seen since the 1950s. But is this £500 million investment enough to propel the city into the limelight as a top retail destination for the UK and, with the current state of the retail industry, is it the right time and place? Elizabeth Troake finds out.
With high street sales in freefall and consumer confidence at its lowest ebb for years, 2008 seems an incongruous time for so many of the UK's most significant retail developments to open. And yet, barely an issue of The Appointment has gone by this year without news of some vast shopping complex opening somewhere in the country.
So far this year we have seen Belfast's Victoria Square open in March, with a catalogue of well-known brands making their Northern Ireland debuts. Also in March, the Eden centre in High Wycombe opened. In May the first phase of the Liverpool One development opened, with a second phase scheduled for September. And, of course, this autumn will see the unveiling of the massive Westfield London shopping centre in White City.
Another high profile addition to this list is Bristol's £500 million Cabot Circus development which is due to open its doors in the autumn. However, with the UK retail industry seemingly as stable as a giraffe on rollerblades and given that Bristol is not an obvious location for a multi-million pound shopping complex, it is a valid question to ask whether a new state-of-the-art shopping centre is really what a city like Bristol needs at this time?
Will Cabot Circus be enough to bring new life and new shoppers into the city or will a combination of the credit crunch and the proximity of more established and well-known retail destinations lead shoppers to bypass it, leaving Bristol as just another "shopping-mall town"?
Proponents of the Cabot Circus scheme would argue that such concerns are countered by two factors: firstly that Bristol is fast apparently becoming the 'capital city of the South West', (it was a finalist for the 2008 European Capital of Culture). The other is that Cabot Circus is on a scale unlike anything seen before in the region. Certainly Harvey Nichols, which will open its sixth UK store in the centre, spread over 32,000 sq ft (including a top floor restaurant) has faith in the consumer pulling power of the city. Commenting on why the famous luxury department store chose Bristol as its next location, Joseph Wan, chief executive of Harvey Nichols, commented: "Bristol has a great lifestyle culture and affluent population which fits perfectly with our brand. We are confident that this will be another successful store".
Cabot Circus is a regeneration of Bristol's entire city centre. When complete, it will include a massive expansion of the existing Broadmead shopping area, a 13-screen "Cinema de Lux", over 200 new homes and three new pedestrian streets. Its construction is being undertaken by the Bristol Alliance, a partnership between two of the UK's leading property companies, Land Securities and Hammerson. According to the developers, it represents Bristol's "largest and most important city centre regeneration programme since the post World War II reconstruction".
The development includes one million sq ft of retail and leisure space, 90% of which has already been let to a wide range of national and international companies such as Café Rouge, Dorothy Perkins, French Connection, Ghost, Hobbs, Kurt Geiger, Pravins, Radley, Topshop and Zara. In fact, at the time of writing Cabot Circus had just announced 11 more signings including American Apparel, Bench and Henleys, all of which will be opening for the first time in Bristol city centre.
Additionally, Raymond Blanc will open a branch of his restaurant chain Brasserie Blanc in the Quakers Friars section at the heart of the complex alongside popular eateries Carluccio, Giraffe and Zizzi. Other Bristolian culinary debutants including Amano, Leon and Yo Sushi! will all be making their Bristol debut as part of the scheme.
The ultimate driving force behind Cabot Circus is the hope that the development will bring Bristol into the top 10 UK retail destinations from its current 23rd place; an upgrade that certainly sounds long overdue for a city that has the highest GDP (gross domestic product) of any city outside London.
According to the developers behind Cabot Circus, the original Broadmead site had its chance to regenerate the fortunes of the city, but simply wasn't up to the task: "Despite many efforts to improve Broadmead in the years which followed [its re-development in the 1950s], the centre has suffered from a continuing number of problems and it has failed to establish itself as the attraction which Bristol deserves as a regional capital".
But can Bristol cope with "innovative design, striking architecture and a strong, fashion-led tenant mix"? Bristol really isn't an obvious choice for a key shopping destination and, with the close proximity of the Cribbs Causeway retail development, the Capitol shopping centre across the water in Cardiff, Reading's Oracle and Southampton's West Quay shopping centres, there are concerns that Bristol is late in entering an over-saturated market.
Keith Stone, Bristol Alliance leasing director, has no such concerns. He told The Appointment: "Over 75% of stores, shops and restaurants opening at Cabot Circus will be in the centre of Bristol for the first time. As such, Bristol will not be competing with centres such as Southampton, Reading or Cardiff, since its large catchment population requires a greater provision of quality retail."
But even if Cabot Circus' appeal is to the affluent shoppers within its catchment area, there is the question of how the retail community already established within Bristol will be affected.
The Mall, Bristol, for example, is also situated in the heart of the city, featuring over 100 smaller, generally independent stores and sitting virtually on the doorstep of the new development. Additionally, the city centre is already home to an Odeon cinema, Debenhams, Marks & Spencer, Bhs and an existing House of Fraser store. Although at the time The Appointment went to press House of Fraser refused to comment on whether they would close their smaller store on the corner of the Haymarket and the Horsefair, it seems probable. Meanwhile, what will happen between Debenhams and a much larger House of Fraser store remains to be seen, never mind quite how that little 3-screen Odeon will cope with the massive 13-screen "Cinema de Lux" when it opens.
In essence, will the short-term detrimental effect on Bristol's existing businesses be worth the long-term gains for the city?
Mr Stone believes that it will: "Bristol is the capital city for the South West and is well established as a leading centre for business, education and culture. It is undergoing a number of regeneration projects to further expand its attractions. However, its retail offer is not on a par for a major regional capital and it lacks a similar calibre of shopping choice to match its reputation elsewhere. Cabot Circus is a direct response to providing Bristol's large catchment population with a city centre destination offering a comprehensive range of new shopping, leisure and entertainment facilities not previously seen in the city centre."
Whether the new development will cannibalise existing retailers' sales or generate sufficient additional footfall to offset such an impact remains to be seen. With a wide catchment area to cater for and many high-profile retailers literally buying in to the idea that the city will become a top 10 retail destination, maybe fears over Bristol's future are overstated. In fact, recent research has shown that the squeeze on consumers may be good news for Cabot Circus. According to the Financial Times, customers are deserting out-of-town shopping centres in favour of town centres as petrol prices continue to soar. So, despite the credit crunch, the state of the industry as a whole and potential competition worries, perhaps Cabot Circus really does have what it takes to catapult Bristol into being the "UK's next fashion hot spot". Perhaps. But whatever the outcome, it is clear that, for Bristol, Cabot Circus is a makeover that is long overdue. Ultimately, the proof of project will be in the shopping.
