is a large
Shopping Mall in the centre of
Manchester ,
UK . Manchester Arndale is the largest of a chain of
Arndale Centres built across the UK in the sixties and seventies. It was constructed in phases between
1972 and
1979 , at a cost of £100 million. The centre has a retail floor space of 1,400,000 square feet (130,060 square metres). As well as
Retail space, it also has high-rise
Offices , and residential
Flats . Since construction it has continuously held the record of being Europe's largest city centre shopping centre, apart from a brief spell during the northern redevelopment when the title was held by the
Birmingham Bullring . It was also clad in yellow tiles which was hated by many, earning it the nickname "The world's biggest public toilet block."
By the late ninties the centre was no longer owned by the Arndale Property Trust. A
Rebranding was proposed, but subsequently abandoned. Today the centre is jointly owned by
Prudential and
Capital Shopping Centres .
The mall was badly damaged in the
1996 Manchester City Centre Bombing by the
Provisional IRA and required extensive
Redevelopment work. In the immediate aftermath of the bombing the southern half of the centre was repaired and refurbished. The northern half was patched up, but parts such as the Arndale Bus station never reopened.
In
October 2003 , as the final stage of rebuilding the city centre after the bombing, the whole of the half of the centre north of Cannon Street closed and was demolished. During the next two to three years the northern half of the centre was completely rebuilt and extended.
The first phase of the "northern extension", known as 'Exchange Court' opened on
24th October 2005. Exchange Court features new stores from
Next ,
Nike and
River Island . This was followed by the second phase known as 'New Cannon Street'. This opened on
6th April 2006. Stores in this phase include new
Flagship branches of
Top Man and
TopShop . The stores are the biggest apart from their respective London headquarters.
Finally, in September 2006, the third and final phase of the northern extension will open. The new
Winter Garden will feature stores such as a new
Virgin Megastore to replace the one that used to be on Market Street, a
Waterstone's bookshop, and a new unit for the Arndale Market (which is currently located next to
Bhs ). The completed mall will provide a link from
Exchange Square and
The Triangle to the
Northern Quarter , and from
Market Street to
The Printworks .
Although, the southern half of the centre has been extensively refurbished, the images show the difference in the main design considerations between the two halfs of the centre. Despite the fact that Halle Square has been extensively refurbished including new sky lights, it still shows a major difference in the levels of natural light between the original malls and the northern extension. The original seventies malls were desinged to "protect" visitors from the outside. However, the newer malls that seek to maximise natural light.
Like many large shopping malls the Manchester Arndale has a
Food Court . The Food-Chain (formerly known as Voyagers) is an 800-seat
Food Court situated on the second floor above the far south-west tip of the centre. It can be accessed via an escalator from
Market Street and from the first floor at the south-western tip of the centre close to
Argos and the first floor entrance to
Boots .
Current stores in the Food-Chain include
Baker's Oven ,
KFC ,
McDonald's ,
Pizza Hut Express ,
Subway ,
Spud U Like ,
Singapore Sam , and
V2Go .
