St. John's Shopping Centre in Preston set for demolition - here's what could replace it

Members of Preston City Council’s planning committee will next week consider a proposal to flatten the precinct and replace it with tower blocks and a landscaped courtyard connecting the bus station to the markets quarter.

They will be advised by the authority’s planning officials to approve the ambitious scheme which would signal the end of the retail destination – more than six decades after the first customers walked through its doors back in 1965.

In its place would spring up two towers – closely linked to a third, already approved for a neighbouring plot – which would together accommodate up to 500 apartments, new retail units and a city centre NHS facility. The buildings would range from 11 to 16 storeys in height.

Details of the proposal first emerged last year when a public consultation was carried out ahead of a planning application being submitted in October.

That blueprint – by Wansfell Ltd. – described St. John’s as a “dated and underperforming commercial centre with low occupancy”, which serves as the “very first impression” of Preston for many visitors arriving in the city.

It is currently home to around 20 retailers – offering mostly everyday essentials – and its own website promotes it as “the perfect place to grab a bargain”.

The committee will be asked to grant outline permission for the scheme, meaning that the details could change at a later stage.

As things stand, one of the blocks to be built on the St. John’s site would be 16-storeys tall and the other 11 – with residential units occupying the upper floors and what are described as “flexible commercial, community or leisure uses” at ground level.

The health facility – billed as a “neighbourhood health centre” – would be contained with the first tower, utilising at least the ground and first floors of the building and possibly extending to the second and third storeys. Councillors will hear that the applicant is “actively engaged” with the NHS regarding “possible long term health solutions in the area”.

The third block – for which planning permission was secured by Wansfell in in 2023 – is an 11-storey entirely residential tower to be constructed following the demolition of a building on Tithebarn Street, which has been occupied by a succession of nightclubs down the decades: Piper, Barristers, Lord Byron’s Storm and Club Arena. That single-level site – with its rooftop car park – is today largely vacant, save for some retail units.

A report by town hall planners that will be presented to the committee states that the “indicative layout” of the overall development is considered to “represent a marked improvement on the character and appearance of the site and the wider area” – and is “an important regeneration opportunity”.

When the proposal was first brought forward last year, the planned towers on the St. John’s plot were identified as being 15 and 10-storeys tall – but the committee papers clarify that that description was not counting the ground floor.

The application will be determined at a meeting at a Preston Town Hall next Tuesday (3rd March) at 2pm.