Newport centre development attracting ‘lots of interest’

12:10pm Friday 8th February 2013 in News

JOHN FROST SQUARE: ‘An awful lot of interest from retailers and restaurants’ JOHN FROST SQUARE: ‘An awful lot of interest from retailers and restaurants’

THE head of development at Newport Unlimited has sent an upbeat message about the city centre’s development, telling traders “we’re ahead of schedule”.

Paul Turling made the remarks at a meeting of traders last week at the Newport Centre, where a presentation was given about the potential creation of a business improvement district (BID) in the city.

Mr Turling, said: “We are at the stage we hoped to be at with John Frost Square.

“It’s going well and there’s an awful lot of interest in it, from retailers and restaurants.”

The president of Newport Chamber of Trade, Alan Edwards, told the meeting that the take-up of food outlets in particular had been very good.

Trying to allay fears about the lack of newnames committing to the centre, Mr Turling, said: “I appreciate it’s hard but it is not us being secretive or hiding things it is simply commercial confidentiality. Discussions are still ongoing and are going well but it’s a commercial process and that takes time.

“This project is far advance of where we were with Modus, we’re ahead of schedule and hope to have another announcement about a business which has signed up shortly.”

Mr Turling said the key now was for Newport to project an image of confidence about itself as that would give potential investors confidence.

He praised the positive attitude of the BID meeting and the proactive approach traders were taking.

“Meetings like this give investors and big players confidence that this is a good place to come and do business,” he said.

Comments(28)

Magor says...
12:40pm Fri 8 Feb 13

By the time its built there wont be many retailers left.

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Bobevans says...
1:21pm Fri 8 Feb 13

As from the 2nd of April the R2 Bus service from Risca which currently terminates in Newport is being extended to the Retail Park due to demand from passengers who want to go to the retail park rather than Newport.

The service runs hourly and is additional to the two bus service that already run there

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Owain Vaughan says...
1:47pm Fri 8 Feb 13

Good positive news.

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sherrie says...
2:06pm Fri 8 Feb 13

The head of development at Newport Unlimited is Paul Tarling not Turling...

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Crazydad says...
2:22pm Fri 8 Feb 13

Lets hope the It’s going well and there’s an awful lot of interest in it, from retailers and restaurants' actually turns into shops in Newport City Centre and not moving to the retail park as they see this as a better option.

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NewportMum says...
2:41pm Fri 8 Feb 13

This is excellent news

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ianzemma says...
3:22pm Fri 8 Feb 13

believe it when i see it!

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portforever says...
4:04pm Fri 8 Feb 13

good news if you are to believe it, it has to start soon or all will be lost to newport retail park in spytty. the retail park is very good and more shops are going there, but no more car parking has been put in place there, resulting in cars backing up at weekends.not sure people really want to go to the high street in newport anymore no matter what shops go there...

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mer8071 says...
4:34pm Fri 8 Feb 13

portforever wrote:
good news if you are to believe it, it has to start soon or all will be lost to newport retail park in spytty. the retail park is very good and more shops are going there, but no more car parking has been put in place there, resulting in cars backing up at weekends.not sure people really want to go to the high street in newport anymore no matter what shops go there...
Personally I prefer town, Spytty will be a short lived gimmick when the town has a new Cinema & shopping mall. Popped into M&S during my lunch break the inside looks as though the store has not been finished bare ceilings & there was plenty of bargain stickers on the food. I walked to the store but the car park was horrendous & this is without the remaining units to be occupied. We should all show potential investors & new retail shops that we are still interested in the High street, we can do with being more positive.

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portforever says...
5:35pm Fri 8 Feb 13

mer8071 wrote:
portforever wrote: good news if you are to believe it, it has to start soon or all will be lost to newport retail park in spytty. the retail park is very good and more shops are going there, but no more car parking has been put in place there, resulting in cars backing up at weekends.not sure people really want to go to the high street in newport anymore no matter what shops go there...
Personally I prefer town, Spytty will be a short lived gimmick when the town has a new Cinema & shopping mall. Popped into M&S during my lunch break the inside looks as though the store has not been finished bare ceilings & there was plenty of bargain stickers on the food. I walked to the store but the car park was horrendous & this is without the remaining units to be occupied. We should all show potential investors & new retail shops that we are still interested in the High street, we can do with being more positive.
dont think spytty is a gimmick, companies like the ones who have left the high street are not mugs, maybe they believe the same as me,that retail parks are what people want. with cheaper rents and rates than the high street who can blame them for getting out. dont believe just being positive about something will solve the issue.

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scraptheWAG says...
6:13pm Fri 8 Feb 13

ahead of schedule now thats is funny in 2002 i was told debenhams was coming!! I think milton keynes was built in a shorter time its a load of rubbish they may have one shop signed up Debenhams which I suspect they would probably have to be given a HUGE incentive to

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Floppy backed says...
6:26pm Fri 8 Feb 13

Spin!

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maindeegirl says...
7:07pm Fri 8 Feb 13

I agree with mer8071. I paid a very rare visit to Spytty yesterday and it was horrible, like shopping in a car park. M&S was drab, dreary & depressing. Won't be going back there in a hurry & I think most people prefer a town centre with a variety of different size shops & interesting buildings, a bit of character not warehouses. Surely it's easier for all to get to the town centre without relying on the car, after all it is in the middle.

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Independentvoter says...
7:11pm Fri 8 Feb 13

I know some very successful business people who could bring back businesses to the high street in Newport within 12 months.

The local people I'm refering to have won top national accolades : CEO of UK, Winner of Medium size business of the year (UK) etc etc.

These people could transform Newport given the opportunity.

Newport Unlimited say "Theres going to be an announcement soon about another 1 shop interested". Wow !

I give up !

Bye!

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Slider02 says...
8:29pm Fri 8 Feb 13

Ahead of schedule - you kidding us? more like so far behind the "investors" are all getting annoyed by the lack of vision and the willing to build big (if even build anything this side of the century !) - and tall. Mind you - Noah is still waiting to hear if he can build his ark - he`s only waited 2 thousand yrs so far !

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scraptheWAG says...
9:15am Sat 9 Feb 13

the unfortunate thing is that all the money that could of been spent regenerating large parts of wales has been wasted the WAG costs 400 million a year to run 200 million spent on welsh language per annum. Carwyn Jones is not far off Robert Mugabee well the residents of newport now live in a slum town and make no mistake that's what it is now become Carwyn is living the high life spending money on new palaces for him and his cronies and on little pet projects like the welsh language.

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Bobevans says...
9:34am Sat 9 Feb 13

The world moves on and High Streets are no longer relevent to the majority of people. High streets do not have the space foe the large single floor building now needed nor are they well located

A small number of people will continue to prefer the High Street but it is a small number probably about 25% of shoppers

Newport needs to be scalled back to make it more attractive. Having empty shops all over the town makes it an unattractive places as do chuggers and an over provision of charity shops

Newport wil not support a large department store it is madness to think it will

Newport Retail Park will continue to expand and longer term an Indoor shopping mall is planned

Public Tranport to it is improving with
from April the R2 service being extended to the retail park

Mothercare are consdering moving to the retail park as are two or three other stores in the town.

Thee are plans due to the ever increasing number of customers at the Retail Park to improve parking although currently it is only a minor issue at peak times

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Floppy backed says...
9:50am Sat 9 Feb 13

Anyone who watches Dragons Den will know that "Expression of interest" does not mean "order". Any great retail business only works if its in run in conjunction with the internet shopping.

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portman says...
10:05am Sat 9 Feb 13

SPYTTY'S CAR PARK JUST CANT COPE NOW, WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE WHEN THE SITE IS COMPLETED ! THEY HAVE COCKED UP! BUT IT SHOWS THE FOOTFALL IS THERE FOR THE TAKING

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maindeegirl says...
10:05pm Sat 9 Feb 13

Why do shops need to be large single floor buildings? Has Mr Evans never heard of an escalator?? He really is obsessed with retail parks & with telling everybody else that they should prefer them. He is wrong!

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D Taylor says...
12:28pm Sun 10 Feb 13

I've been wondering what convinced M&S that they can sell posh nosh to people who live in social housing. With all due respect to the good people of Ringland they are much more likely to shop in Tesco or Iceland for their food than pay higher prices to M&S. When in the City Centre they could draw on a much wider spectrum of food shoppers.

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Dee-Gee says...
1:33pm Sun 10 Feb 13

I don't see why there has to be an either/or as far as Spytty/city centre is concerned. One person's "modern shopping centre" is another person's "nasty-looking warehouse". One person's "charm and character" is another person's "old-fashioned and poky."

Newport's big enough for both, Mr Bob Evan's "creative" statistics notwithstanding.

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NewportMum says...
12:07pm Mon 11 Feb 13

I agree Dee-Gee, I think Newport can support both. It's a big place with plenty of out-lying towns and villages. I think if the centre can be developed with a mix of office, leisure and retail there is no reason why it can't succeed alongside Spytty.
I think it's important for the positive voices to be heard right now so that potential retailers and leisure groups know there is a still a strong interest in the city centre.

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sweetiepie says...
12:15pm Mon 11 Feb 13

I read "Newport" and "Awful" and stopped there. Seems the norm these days with those two words together. Shame.

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Lastpost says...
4:44pm Mon 11 Feb 13

EIGHT years and one month ago today Newport Unlimited released the following statement:

"Work has begun on transforming Newport into an exciting and vibrant city with quality housing, thousands of new jobs, landmark buildings and flagship leisure facilities, together with beautiful central city streets, squares and parks."

Thank goodness the Ryder Cup benefits are still keeping the Newport traders in the black.

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Libby5 says...
10:16pm Mon 11 Feb 13

I totally disagree with Bob Evans that Newport City Centre could not support a department store! Of course it could, most Newport feel forced to shop in Cardiff or Cwmbran because we do not have a department store. The people of Newport might not all be affluent but they do spend - the big supermarkets conduct extensive market research before deciding to open in a city or town and that includes estimated expenditures of the residents. We have two Tescos, a Sainsburys, two Asdas and a Morrisons, not to mention the Aldis and Lidls and the supermarket express stores so 'do the maths' as they say, the people of Newport do spend. I truly believe that if Debenhams and the other proposed stores come - the people will follow. Lets be positive!

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Strider says...
10:21pm Mon 11 Feb 13

The Argus said last year the Passport was going in February or Summer 2013 as the latest... Does anybody know if this is still going, as the Nexus house parking is a bit rubbish?

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D Taylor says...
9:18am Tue 12 Feb 13

Libby5 wrote:
I totally disagree with Bob Evans that Newport City Centre could not support a department store! Of course it could, most Newport feel forced to shop in Cardiff or Cwmbran because we do not have a department store. The people of Newport might not all be affluent but they do spend - the big supermarkets conduct extensive market research before deciding to open in a city or town and that includes estimated expenditures of the residents. We have two Tescos, a Sainsburys, two Asdas and a Morrisons, not to mention the Aldis and Lidls and the supermarket express stores so 'do the maths' as they say, the people of Newport do spend. I truly believe that if Debenhams and the other proposed stores come - the people will follow. Lets be positive!
Two Morrisons. Rogerstone and Lysaghts.

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