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| Location | Portsmouth, Hampshire England |
|---|---|
| Opening date | 26 September 1989 |
| Developer | Taylor Woodrow Construction |
| Management | JLL |
| Architect | Chapman Taylor & Partners |
| No. of stores and services | 60 active |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Website | cascades-shopping |
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Cascades Shopping Centre is an enclosed shopping centre in the city centre of Portsmouth on the South Coast of England. It has a wide range of High Street retailers, and its own multi-storey car park connecting straight into the malls by lifts and stairs.
The building contract, described variously as worth £40 million, £45 million[1] or £50 million,[2] was won in 1987 by Taylor Woodrow Construction.[3] As originally designed, the shopping centre had 300,000 square feet (28,000 m2) of retail space on a site covering 6.5 acres (2.6 ha) overall.[3] The anchor tenant was British Home Stores, with an 80,000-square-foot (7,400 m2) shop; existing city-centre stores belonging to C&A, Littlewoods and Marks & Spencer were expanded into the new centre. A 600-vehicle multi-storey car park was built into the centre, which also had a food court.[2] Work began on the centre in May 1987[2] and it opened in September 1989.[4] The site was previously occupied by Charlotte Street and Moores Square, where a regular street market was held. The city council had announced that the stalls would be moved to a new location at the end of February 1987, but by late April – when redevelopment work was underway – they had still not been relocated.[1]
The Centre had a £20m redevelopment of the ground and lower ground floors during 2006/2007.[5] The food hall was converted to shopping floorspace and the open atrium above it was filled in to provide an extra 2,500 square metres of retail space and 54 additional car park spaces. The new mall was opened by the Lord Mayor of Portsmouth Councillor Mike Blake at an official ceremony on 29 May 2007.
However, the demolition of the Tricorn Centre and the delay on the redevelopment of the area by Portsmouth City Council has created a large car park immediately outside; whilst the closure of Woolworths has rendered a large retail unit that was unused for many years, until Primark bought the unit to use to expand their store. This has made the redevelopment, with its consequent loss of smaller shops and food outlets, largely unnecessary. The redevelopment removed the food court, the iconic glass lifts and large naturally lit atrium.
The shopping centre was offered up for sale in 2021 by its owner RPMI Railpen, with a asking price of £18 million.[6]
Stores
[edit]The Centre has seen many stores close in recent years. The large Marks & Spencer store has been relocated to Ocean Retail Park in Copnor. The Centre has over 60 shops, including Claire's, Next, Primark, New Look Men, TK Maxx and many independent shops.
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Traders' fury over Cascades". Portsmouth Evening News. Portsmouth. 27 April 1987. p. 7. Retrieved 12 June 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ a b c "Shops plan is a hit already". Portsmouth Evening News. Portsmouth. 15 May 1987. p. 17. Retrieved 12 June 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ a b "Briefing: Southall Green". Southall Gazette. Southall. 10 July 1987. p. 6. Retrieved 12 June 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Davey, Kieran; Croker, Deborah (13 September 2019). "The construction and life of Portsmouth's Cascades in 25 historic photos". The News. Portsmouth. Archived from the original on 12 June 2025. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ Brown, Kelly (13 September 2023). "Remembering the Cascades Food Court and the shops lost in the Portsmouth shopping centre over the years". The News. Portsmouth. Archived from the original on 21 September 2023. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
- ^ Barber, Kimberley (24 September 2021). "Cascades Shopping Centre in Portsmouth goes up for sale for £18m". The News. Portsmouth. Archived from the original on 14 January 2024. Retrieved 14 January 2024.