Shopping City, Runcorn, was to be the centrepiece of Runcorn's New Town when it opened in 1972. The largest enclosed shopping centre in Europe at that time, it was the hub of Runcorn's brand new wheel, with walkways in the sky linking it to the hospital, courts and surrounding, futuristic estates.
Hugely popular in its early years, with visitors travelling from Manchester and Liverpool, the centre now feels dated, despite renovations undertaken a decade ago. Key draws to the centre, from Woolworths and Littlewoods in the 70s and 80s, to Tesco and The Range more recently, have all shut their doors, with The Range closing a year ago this month.
The centre is now punctuated by empty units, some of them very large. Adam Killen, 29, a barber in Runcorn's Old Town, called it: "A shopping centre with no shops in it."
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“It’s always been the same. There’s nothing here,” says Gail Mayers, 61, shopping with her daughter, Lisa.
“We’ve had everything in here but it’s getting worse, emptier. Even the bank has shut down,” says Lisa Mayers, 35, gesturing towards the former Santander branch that now lies empty. Adverts cover the windows of this empty lot and others proclaiming ‘Excellent retail space’ – ‘Make this space your own’.
The pair mention shops that once occupied the centre, including B&M. The vacant unit left behind when B&M moved to neighbouring Trident Retail Park has recently been replaced by an NHS clinic: Halton Health Hub.
“It’s behind the times,” says Nathan Dawson, 30, shopping with 3-year-old son Arthur. “It’s just stayed in the early 2000s.
“It needs a lot of development. It needs to be brought into the modern times.
Mr Dawson added: “Everything seems to be developed around Runcorn, but never Runcorn itself.”
“We are quite lucky because we have regulars, but it’s very rare that we see a new face, someone who says ‘Let’s go to Shopping City and see what’s there,’” says Magda Spratek, 35, manager of The Coffee House, which opened in Shopping City in June 2021.
“It would be so much nicer if we had a place like Primark; a big shop to bring people in.”
She added: “I see the same faces so often that I wonder how they can afford to come here all the time.”
“It is a shame,” says Barbara Roberts, 80, a volunteer at nearby Castle View Primary School. “I’ve been here forty-eight years. It’s a shame that it has changed; both the new town and the old town.”
“It’s a bit behind other shopping centres,” says Barbara’s daughter, Lisa Williams, 50. “I do like the way they try to bring the community together with art,” she says, as the pair walk around an exhibition of local schoolchildren’s artwork at the centre of the shopping centre.
“We’ve got to go over the bridge to buy normal things. All the investment goes over there [to Widnes],” adds Mrs Roberts.
The mother-and-daughter pair add that they believe the library in particular, located adjacent to Shopping City, to be important to the community and particularly the local school children.
“I’ve been working here for twenty years, and it’s the same faces you see coming in every day,” says Rob Garrett, 39, working at ACT:R, a menswear shop that opened in Shopping City more than 30 years ago.
“They’ve tried to do things to get new people in – there was a crazy golf course [in the square at the centre of Shopping City] last summer – but I think a lot of people would rather go to Warrington or Widnes now.”
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