Opened in
September 1998, this enormous new shopping and leisure complex
has already been designated the "Temple to Consumerism", and
is the largest centre of its kind to date in Europe.
Peel Holdings'
Trafford Centre occupies a former wasteland site of 300 acres
in the Dumplington district on the outskirts of Trafford Park.
It
took 27 months to build, employed over 3000 building workers
and cost some £600 million to complete.
Although
it contains all the major high street department stores and
chains - (Debenhams, Boots Chemists, Burtons, The Body Shop,
Dorothy Perkins, W.H.Smith, Top Shop, British Home Stores, etc),
it is much more than a shopping centre.
Its
gigantic dining hall, "The Orient", has innumerable fast food
franchises and restaurants, (including a speciality Chinese
street), in a dramatically theatrical ocean liner setting with
swimming pool and performance stage with a large film/TV screen.
Even when
shops close in late evening, the leisure facilities centred
around the Orient, which also contain the UCI 20 Screen Megaplex
Cinema, continue on until 12midnight.
A
covered market area, the Festival Village, is included at the
far end of Peel Avenue, where independent trader's stores add
a more localised and down-scaled atmosphere than that found
in the rest of the centre.
The
project was controversial from the outset - surrounding towns
and districts like Bolton, Stockport, Altrincham and Warrington
expect it to draw shoppers from these districts and anticipated,
(initially at least), a 15-20% drop in retail sales as a result.
Though nothing quite so drastic did actually occur, there was
some temporary decline in trade in surrounding areas..
The Trafford
Centre is a mammoth undertaking. It covers an area equal to
30 football pitches, has onsite free parking for 10,000 cars
and 300 coaches, there are 350 closed circuit TVs in operation,
its malls have over 3 miles of covered walkways, use 19 miles
of drainage, and its roof bears around 2 tons of water a second
in rainy weather.
It
produces 400 tons of waste packaging every week and uses enough
electricity to power a small town. It
is eventually expected to raise some £13 billion a year in till
receipts.
The
Trafford Centre abounds with superlatives; £40,000 worth of
gold leaf decorates the columns in the shopping malls.
Its
3 massive domes dominate the surrounding countryside for many
miles and are a major new feature on the adjacent M60 motorway,
especially at night when the whole complex is brightly floodlit.
Its central glass dome is about 2/3 the size of that on St Paul's
Cathedral in London.
There
are excellent facilities for the disabled, with a dedicated
65 space car park with "Shopmobility" facilities onsite. These
include electric wheelchairs. All entrances, lifts and escalators
are designed for wheelchair access. There are also facilities
for the visually impaired, with special lenses available at
the Customer Services Desk and the Shopmobility Unit. Mothers
and babies are equally well catered, with specialist baby changing
and breast feeding rooms, disposable nappy dispensers, and a
milk bottle heating facility in the Orient.
The children's Play Area, Wonder World, can deal with up to
100 children and there is a crèche facility for the over
2 year olds. Organised entertainments are available, including
performances by the Trafford Centre Bears, magicians and jugglers.
Children's buggies are available from Customer Services desks,
and security ID tags are available for parents and children
Public Bus services run directly into the centre - these include
services from Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport, Bolton, Altrincham
and most surrounding districts, but also as far afield as Heaton
Park in north Manchester. Taxi services exist on site. Bus timetables
and information schedules are available from Customer Services.
