Shires West, including John Lewis, completes 2008, and £19 million committed by Council.
We are working with the City Council to enhance and widen the main retail area and extend Leicester’s unique New Walk through the city centre to the riverside.

Rationale
Leicester has a less successful retail core than its size and catchment can support, and it is heavily concentrated around the Clock Tower. The Shires, the market, the Haymarket Centre and Gallowtree Gate are close by, so footfall is lower, which limits opportunities for major new retailing. This heavy focus needs widening, to create opportunities for more, higher-quality shops.

The project (2002 masterplan)
The masterplan identified a potential ‘retail core’ of streets, to be pedestrianised with high-quality paving, around which new retail opportunities would be identified and pursued, with a total of 100,000 sq m of new floor space, including The Shires extension. It also suggested a pedestrian boulevard to extend New Walk through the city centre, as one leg of this Circuit, through The Shires, to link with the Waterside Key Project.

Progress and Programme
A £350 million investment by The Shires Limited Partnership - a joint venture between Hammerson plc and Hermes - will double the size of The Shires shopping centre and will include a John Lewis store.

The City Council has committed £19 million for a radical rejuvenation of the city centre. The 'Streets & Spaces' Scheme, which includes very high quality re-paving of all the principle shopping streets. This is now on site.

The Shires plans include:

• A 7,000 square metre multiplex cinema and 6,000 square metres of cafes and restaurants
• Two new public squares and 118 apartments
• A new 2,000 space multi-storey car park and a pedestrian bridge linking the extension with the new secure car park
• A new bus interchange adjacent to The Shires
• A comprehensive refurbishment of the existing Shires shopping centre