Statement from Fishergate Shopping Centre bosses on major redevelopment plans

Since 2022, a huge redevelopment of the Fishergate Centre has been talked about as a key part of the Preston Station Quarter Regeneration Framework.

At that time, Preston City Council released a draft blueprint showing a completely new look for the area around the railway station. It detailed plans for a “comprehensive redevelopment” of the Fishergate Centre, with CGI images showing high rise blocks on the car park and separate buildings where the shopping centre currently exists.

The document - which is still active online - states: “The expectation is that whilst there will still be active ground floor retail uses on key frontages, the overall quantum of development within Station East will be biased towards other main city centre uses...The full or part redevelopment of the Fishergate Centre for mixed-use buildings will therefore result in a reduced number of retail units and increased opportunity for leisure, food and beverage, and conferencing facilities alongside hotel and apartment uses on upper levels.”

Owner’s application

Then in April last year, the owners of the Fishergate Centre - the Martin Property Group - submitted a screening option request to Preston Council for the site’s multi-phase redevelopment. While the initial focus was on building high-rise office buildings on the existing surface car park - involvinga partial demolition of the TK Maxx and TJ Hughes units - their documents also revealed a future plan for eight buildings in total.

Fishergate frontage

The group’s agent spoke of the “redevelopment of the Shopping Centre for a high-rise, mixed-use development (Buildings 6, 7 and 8) fronting Fishergate, together with a public square, located opposite the side (eastern) entrance of the railway station.”

Again, CGI images showed that the scheme would likely involve the full or partial demolition of the shopping centre, but talk of demolition of the whole site has been labeled as “speculation” by centre bosses. This was all revealed in a social media discussion over the Emmaus charity taking over the former Debenhams site.

Facebook

In a Facebook discussion last week, questions were raised about how a charity could afford the rent on such a large unit, when a big named brand couldn’t make it work. In response, it was suggested by a member of public that Emmaus might have been given a “very reasonable deal”, considering the difficulty in renting the unit out since Debenhams closed in 2022, “and the fact the whole shopping centre is coming down under new plans to regenerate the station quarter”.

Statement

In a public response, the Fishergate Shopping Centre account said: “There has been speculation about a part of the shopping centre being demolished through news sites, however, no such plans have been confirmed by Fishergate Shopping Centre nor the building owners. We plan to operate as normal for many years to come. We have been making significant investments to the building and will continue to do so."

The Post approached the Martin Property Group for more information about the redevelopment, but this has not been acknowledged.

Preston Station Quarter vision

The regeneration framework sets out an ambition to give a complete facelift to one of the main gateways into Preston, which is considered to give a “poor first impression” to visitors in its current form.

A submission made to the town hall on behalf of the Martin Property Group - also reveals that the first two proposed buildings would form part of a pitch for Preston to provide a 15,000 square metre “regional government office hub”, said to be "in direct response" to the requirements of the Government Property Agency.

The initial phase of development would also see the start of work to create a new public realm - described in the framework plan as a “welcome square” - and better integrate the site with its "immediate surroundings”. The new public space would also improve links between the station and Preston’s flagship Avenham and Miller parks.

The new development would be connected directly to the station - the main access to which would be moved from Fishergate to Butler Street, where the side entrance is currently located.