Work to begin on Shrewsbury's Darwin Shopping Centre

The work is part of Shropshire Council's long-term plans to overhaul the three shopping centres it bought in January last year for £51 million.

At the place overview committee yesterday, Gemma Davies, head of economic growth said the first stage is to revamp the bottom levels of the Darwin centre.

"Last year we set aside a £4m capital budget and we're going to do what we need to do in the Darwin," she said.

"The top level is not too bad and has been well kept compared to the lower levels and is a different quality. We need to bring the lower levels up to the same standard.

"Work will begin soon and will be completed before the Christmas period as obviously that is one of the busiest time of the year for shopping."

Miss Davies said she is also aiming for the best toilets in Shrewsbury to be located in the Darwin centre to drive footfall.

"JD Sports has been a real success story for the shopping centre and the Disney Store was another store we were pleased to get," she added.

"We have got all sorts of conversations on-going at the moment. I can't pretend it's easy to land some of these deals but there is interest.

"Footfall in Shrewsbury is really good and it's bucking the trend so these talks are promising."

There has been much talk over the last year about proposals for the Riverside with ideas such as transforming it into a leisure zone with a cinema, restaurants and gym being put forward by the council leader Peter Nutting.

Miss Davies added: "We are also starting to starting to think about the long-term plan for the Riverside centre and that whole area.

"With the recent news about the North West Relief Road, we can now begin thinking about doing things different in the town centre as it will take a lot of the traffic away.

"We're going to get some really good architects in with some really good ideas for the Riverside. One thing we want to look into is Frankwell bridge which at the moment isn't what we want it to be."

Shropshire Council will now look to create a masterplan for the Riverside area.