Shopping centre to become ‘leisure destination’

VISION: Prospect Shopping Centre

EXCLUSIVE by Rick Lyon, Co-Editor

The new owner of Prospect Shopping Centre has revealed his plans for it to become a “leisure destination”, with a food court on the outside.

Z&F Properties bought the five-acre site, which includes the mall and exterior units running from Jameson Street, down Prospect Street and onto Brook Street, for £4.7m in February.

Now, managing director Zahid Iqbal has outlined major plans, including transforming currently unoccupied outward-facing units along Prospect Street and Brook Street into a new food court.

Larger units are being split in order to occupy multiple eateries, and the food court will also include outside seating. A number of businesses have already been lined up to move in, with it expected to be open in around three months.

The old first-floor food court inside the mall, which has been closed for five years, is being turned into a children’s soft play area.

AMBITIONS: Zahid Iqbal

Z&F Properties also owns The Ridings Shopping Centre in Wakefield, the Packhorse Shopping Centre in Huddersfield and Batley Plaza, and Mr Iqbal said this has provided him with a model for success with Prospect Shopping Centre.

Mr Iqbal told The Hull Story: “Our aspiration for the Prospect Centre is for it to become an affordable city centre leisure destination.

“Hull is currently missing out on that, and it needs something to create a vibe and draw people back in.

“We have a certain style of shopping centre that we purchase. We don’t buy ones that are purely inward looking, we buy shopping centres that have a mall but also have external units as well.

“We find there are the retailers that like to be in the mall, and then you have leisure operators that like to be on the outside because their trading hours are much later.

CHANGE: The Prospect Shopping Centre is undergoing upgrades and repairs

“The old food court was a very dated concept, with limited opening hours. We build food courts that are a parade of individual units, and we find they work better.

“We’ve done this in Batley, and it’s been very successful. We’re planning to replicate that here, and bring a lot of those traders from Batley here too.

“We’ll put outside seating and canopies in place, so it will be a really nice area.

“We’ve found the biggest complaint people have is that there isn’t any night-time business in Hull city centre. There’s plenty of activity on the peripheral streets but you need an offer that will draw people in to the city centre.”

In order to draw people in, Mr Iqbal said it is crucial to have an affordable offer that doesn’t price people out during challenging economic times.

DESTINATION: The offer at Prospect Shopping Centre will remain affordable, the new owner has said

“Every shopping centre is unique,” he said. “The bulk of the traders here are national chains, and we can see that continuing. But they will be national companies that are looking to provide value goods.

“A lot of the people that come to our centre won’t go to others, purely because the costs are prohibitive for them elsewhere.

“What we run are effectively community centres. Our traders tend to be a lot of discounters that the community use, particularly in this time of austerity.

“So, for the food court, we’ll be bringing in operators that can work to the sort of budget that people can afford.

“The prices will be reasonable but the quality will be very, very good, and we think that will appeal to people. If the product isn’t good, it doesn’t last.”

Prospect Shopping Centre is home to brands such as B&M, Poundland, WHSmith, Lush and Greggs. However, it has suffered from a lack of investment over recent years.

Mr Iqbal said Z&F Properties will spend around £1m in the first year of ownership making upgrades and repairs. Improvements have already been made to the shopping centre’s café and car park.

“The Prospect Centre has a very, very strong and loyal following. People in Hull have grown up with it and want to see it succeed,” said Mr Iqbal.

“In the first three-and-a-half months we’ve owned it, six of the traders have re-signed their leases, which is fantastic and very promising.

“We currently have four vacant units inside and we’re hoping to get some good news soon on one of the larger ones.

“There’s a lot to be positive about.”

The Hull Story comment

We welcome the plans to transform Prospect Shopping Centre into a “leisure destination”.

New owner Zahid Iqbal has revealed his vision for the centre, including a new food court on the outside to draw people into the city centre.

There’s no doubt both the shopping centre and Hull city centre more generally need a boost.

The loss of major high street stores such as Debenhams, House of Frasier and Marks & Spencer over the years has clearly had a hugely detrimental impact on footfall – as it has in other cities across the UK.

And Hull’s city centre night-time economy – or lack of – has been of concern for some time now too.

Hammonds of Hull appeared to be a great idea, providing an eclectic retail and leisure offer under one roof in the old House of Fraiser store.

But, despite opening in a blaze of publicity in December 2021, it closed just 15 months later following dwindling footfall.

A common complaint was that it was overpriced.

Mr Iqbal isn’t set to make the same mistake with Prospect Shopping Centre.

In outlining his plans to transform unoccupied outward-facing units along Prospect Street and Brook Street into the new food court, he was keen to stress the offer needs to be affordable, as well as good quality.

Those unoccupied units have been a depressing reminder of the economically challenging times we’re in, as have others across the city.

So, it will be a welcome site to see new eateries move in and hopefully entice people back in.

We wish Mr Iqbal well with his plans and hope they are a huge success.

Hull needs them to be.