Telford Fashion Quarter: Next and New Look moving into bigger stores

The retailers have signed pre-let agreements to move into new premises in Telford Shopping Centre, as part of a development that is being called The Fashion Quarter.

Next is expanding into a 30,000 sq ft store and New Look into a 16,000 sq ft store, with both shops agreeing new 10-year leases.

The Fashion Quarter will see the redevelopment and extension of New Row and New Street, retaining House of Fraser as the anchor as well as existing tenants Zara and River Island.

A new link to Sherwood Street will also be built, creating new large stores with the aim of attracting more fashion retailers into the centre. It comes as the nearby bus station also undergoes redevelopment.

Discussions are already in hand with a number of other potential tenants.

Alexandra Pugh, senior leasing & asset manager at Sovereign Centros, which is managing the redevelopment of the centre on behalf of its owners, said: "We are delighted to have secured Next and New Look to anchor our new Fashion Quarter.

"These are major lettings that reinforce Telford as a powerful regional destination. We are in detailed discussions with a host of other retailers, new to the town, which are interested in the space and will be making further announcements in due course.

"Our continued investment in The Telford Centre, including the new Northern and Southern Quarter developments, will further strengthen Telford's status in the region."

The new development will open in autumn 2018 alongside the new bus station, where construction work is "progressing well", according to Sovereign.

The fashion quarter is one of three ongoing redevelopment projects, along with the Southern Quarter, which will open in time for Easter, and the Northern Quarter, on the site of the old ASDA.

It will comprise a terrace of large retail units including a new supermarket. Construction is underway.