Haymarket Shopping Centre

Haymarket Shopping Centre

Location	Leicester
Address	1 Kildare Walk, City Centre, Leicester, LE1 3YH
Opening date	4 June 1973
Management	Munroe K Asset Management
Owner	ING Real Estate Investment Management
Architect	Building Design Partnership
No. of stores and services	65
No. of anchor tenants	Primark, T.K. Maxx, H&M, Poundworld
Total retail floor area	250,000 sq ft (23,000 m2)[1]
No. of floors	2/3 retail, 2 theatre, 3 office block
Parking	500 spaces
Public transit access	Haymarket Bus Station
Website	http://www.haymarketshoppingcentre.com/

Haymarket Shopping Centre

Coordinates: 52°38′12.00″N 1°7′55.00″W / 52.6366667°N 1.1319444°W / 52.6366667; -1.1319444 The Haymarket Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in the city centre of Leicester, England. It opened on 4 June 1973^[2] as the Haymarket Centre and is the oldest shopping mall in Great Britain. It is located east of and adjacent to the Clock Tower. .^[3] The retail space is on two levels, three in the case of the two pre-existing buildings (former C&A and former Littlewoods).

The Haymarket Shopping Centre boasts around 65 outlets, a bus station, a two-stage theatre, and Haymarket House (a three-story office block atop of the rooftop car park), and had previously boasted two nightclubs (located either side of the clock tower entrance), Dino's restaurant (adjacent to the theatre entrance) and two enclosed foot bridges (one crossing Charles Street in to Kildare Street and the other crossing Humberstone Gate linking to Lewis's department store).

Four wide pedestrian access points are located on the streets Haymarket (clock tower), Belgrave Gate, Charles Street and Humberstone Gate. Noticeably, there are no doors so no bottlenecks occur during busy periods. Some of the outlets can only be accessed from the street and some can only be accessed from the mall. The larger stores can be accessed either way.

History

In May 1967, the newly built Littlewoods store was opened by Sir Barnett Janner MP. The building is of an imposing concrete construction close to the clock tower. It is four stories high and features three balconies on the two frontages.

In 1970, Lea's store on the corner of Humberstone Gate and Charles Street was demolished to make way for the construction of a new store for C&A. Construction is of standard brick and three stories high.

Construction of the Haymarket Centre began in 1971 of red brick, linking Littlewoods and C&A (located 120 metres apart). The centre was opened on 4 June 1973. It is six stories high; levels 1-2 are for retail, levels 3-4 are for car parking, levels 4-6 are Haymarket House and levels 2 plus for the theatre. Level 2 balconies feature on Humberstone Gate and outside the theatre.

In 1993, Lewis's department store was demolished prompting the removal of the foot bridge linking Lewis's and the Haymarket Shopping Centre.

In 1996, the Haymarket Shopping Centre closed for refurbishment. The general colours of brown and beige were replaced with white, a new glass roof was built, and the escalators and staircase switched sides and were replaced with new ones. The toilets were moved from above the clock tower entrance to above the Charles Street entrance. The children's ladybirds ride was removed. The spiral road to the high level car park was demolished in favour of a straight ramp, with access being moved from Charles Street to Belgrave Gate. In a separate, publicly funded project by the Leicester City Council, a row of shops was purchased on Charles Street and demolished in order to build the Haymarket Bus Station.

In 1997, the foot bridge crossing Charles Street was closed; it was removed in 2007.

In May 2006 it was announced that Woolworths were to vacate their unit in the centre in 2007 after being "made an offer they could not refuse" by the landlords.^[4] Peacocks have since opened a new fashion store on the former Woolworths site facing Marks and Spencers. The store opened in October 2007.

The bus station was demolished in 2015, along with two food outlets (McIndians and Subway) and the Bohemian Public House on the corner of Charles Street and Belgrave Gate in order to build a larger bus station.

Stores

Notable stores past and present include Littlewoods (including Index), C&A, Primark, T.K. Maxx, Gateway (later The Co-operative), HMV, British Home Stores, Alders, Bejam, MK One, Habitat and Woolworths.

Haymarket Theatre

The Leicester City Council purchased a 99-year lease of the Haymarket Theatre on behalf of the public on 29 September 1974. The Leicester Theatre Trust operated the theatre from this date then vacated in 2007 in favour of the new Curve Theatre, Leicester on Halford Street. Located at the front of the entrance to the Haymarket Theatre is the only major piece of abstract sculpture in the city centre.^[5]

Nightclubs

To the left of the Clock Tower entrance was the entrance to the George Bar. This took its name from the George Hotel that had previously stood on this site. In 2001 it was called U R Zeus. It opened on 23 September 2005 as Niche, followed in November 2007 by Ice. It closed in 2008 and on 30 May 2009, it opened as the D9 Nightclub.

To the right side of the Clock Tower entrance was the entrance to a nightclub which was located on the first and second floors. This has now been converted to ordinary retail space and is currently occupied by Costa Coffee. This was first known as Bailey's Nightspot, then changed to The King of Clubs in 1980. It subsequently changed its name to Mr Kiesa's Discothèque, after owner Martin Kiesa.

Bailey's hosted many music and comedy acts such as Tommy Cooper, Bernard Manning, Mud, Slade, Gary Glitter (March 1978), Showaddywaddy, The Three Degrees and The Drifters.

Transport

Haymarket Shopping Centre has a bus station, Haymarket Bus Station.

Gallery

• 

  The Haymarket Centre on Humberstone Gate. Note Haymarket House office block in the centre comprising the top three floors.

• 

  Photo taken in 2015 from the same spot. Note that the escalators and staircase exchanged sides in 1996.

Notes

Haymarket Centre is its original name and the original signage on the outside walls still remain. The term is still used when referring to the whole complex, as opposed to just the mall.

The Haymarket is a common name for the Haymarket Shopping Centre used by the public and more recently, by the centre itself. The Humberstone Gate entrance has the name "The Haymarket" engraved into the floor.

Haymarket is the name of a short section of road, changing to Belgrave Gate after around 75 metres, adjacent to the Haymarket Shopping Centre.

References

External links

• Haymarket Shopping Centre