It wasn’t so long ago that shopping centre owners were throwing out leisure offers from their retail centres, but you’d have to be a brave landlord to do that today, according to Polly Troughton, head of retail parks and leisure at Land Securities.
It wasn’t so long ago that shopping centre owners were throwing out leisure offers from their retail centres, but you’d have to be a brave landlord to do that today, according to Polly Troughton, head of retail parks and leisure at Land Securities.
Speaking during a panel session dedicated to leisure and entertainment in shopping centres, Troughten said every landlord and property owner is looking to exploit the value of their centres. 'There is space in most buildings that will never be useful for retail, but would work for leisure,' she added.
The big issue for retailers is that leisure doesn’t bring in as much rent for shopping centres as a more traditional retail offer because of the high capital investment required in building an attractive offer.
But according to Nick Varney, CEO of Merlin Entertainments, leisure attracts footfall. 'A strongly branded location-based leisure offer will drive footfall. But the entertainment offer must be completely complementary. It should last one to two hours, not all day so that people can go and enjoy shopping afterwards.'
Fellow panelist Justin Beavis, managing director of Urban Legacies, added: 'There is a challenge for smaller centres which are planning to add leisure to their attraction. The danger is that putting in a very small leisure concept won’t achieve the critical mass that establishes that all-important point of difference. Concepts come and go and the most useful discussion is about the allocation and reallocation of space in order to use it in the most beneficial way.'