Scarborough MP would welcome a Primark to town centre
Scarborough's MP says he would welcome a Primark to the town centre.
Scarborough's MP says he would welcome a Primark to the town centre.
Robert Goodwill has been sharing his thoughts on the recent demise of several high street chains.
The Brunswick Centre is being hit by the loss Debenhams, Topshop, Topman and Dorothy Perkins.
Robert said:
"There was already a trend particularly amongst younger shoppers to buy online and that was bringing the high street under severe pressure, but I think Covid has probably accelerated that by a number of years, possibly even a decade.
"There's many local businesses that maybe aren't in the actual middle in the precinct, they're in more outlining areas; so whether we can persuade some of those to move into the empty shops in the centre so they can get more footfall and more likely to get customers. Maybe the Government could look at ways of helping that.
"We need to look at what we can do with the Brunswick Centre itself to see what other use that can be put to. I've spoken to the Chief Executive of the Council and they're well aware that this could be seen as an opportunity as well as a problem. There's no plans in place as of yet but there's hope that there will be others.
"Every time a shop closes in Scarborough, people tell me 'let's have a Primark' and I've got to say, I'm not a big Primark shopper myself, but Primark do not sell online and I would hope that when Primark, if they're looking to expand, there would be very competitive rents available and I hope that there maybe we will get a Primark in Scarborough."
Robert added that he is no averse to the idea of a cinema on the site:
"It's not a bad idea at all but that will rely on a developer coming in to do that. One of the potential drawbacks is that cinema companies aren't exactly flushed with money at the moment as they've been closed for the most of last year. I think there's a lot of good and potential uses of what is currently retail space in the Brunswick Centre.