The official launch of Norwich’s Castle Mall as Castle Quarter has been hailed a great success with footfall increasing throughout the centre and a range of new tenants opening and coming soon.
The rebrand and relaunch comes on the back of 18 months of strategic planning, with a vision for the new Castle Quarter in the heart of Norwich built around insight and knowledge gained from analysing the views of a wide cross section of shoppers. Since the launch, Castle Quarter has seen double digit growth year on year and is significantly ahead of the national average footfall.
Described as the place to ‘Shop, Dine, Watch and Play’ in the heart of Norwich, the 370,000 sq ft Castle Quarter has attracted new tenants including a 16,000 sq ft PureGym, the national chain of gyms with over a million members in the UK, and Superbowl UK, the expanding ten pin bowling operator, which offers a range of facilities including bowling, laser quest, ninja assault courses, Crazy Club Soft Play and a Sega Prize Zone.
Castle Quarter is also in discussions with two further leisure operators.
Other new tenants include Retro Replay, a retro gaming arcade and Moya, an East Asian bubble tea house and Japanese bakery. Castle Quarter also has a number of community initiatives, including a free ‘Sharing Office’ for local charities and community groups, ‘Kastle Kids’ children’s entertainment club and ‘Made in Norwich’, a free pop up retail space for Norwich based micro retail businesses.
Centre manager, Rob Bradley, said: “Castle Quarter is the embodiment of a path of evolutionboth in terms of what it physically is as a product and how it is perceived. This is the start of a journey that will build momentum as the sum of the parts come together in the coming months and years.
“By understanding today’s retail challenges, Castle Quarter is re-positioning itself by increasing the number and range of outlets, being more relevant to today’s shopper and consumer and creating a strong position in the local market.”
David Henderson Williams of RivingtonHark, asset managers for Castle Quarter, said: “Our emphasis is on attracting the family market to Castle Quarter and indications are that this is already happening. Norwich is home to two universities, the University of East Anglia and Norwich University of the Arts, so the student market is another important core sector for us. Only a few weeks after the launch of Castle Quarter, the increases in footfall are very encouraging and confirm that we are well placed to buck the trend in high street retailing with a customer-focused, varied offering.”
The launch party at the end of September led to a 14% week on week increase in footfall and this level of increase has continued week on week together with a 60% year on year increase in website visitors and over 39,000 social media engagements.
Rob Bradley continued: “The response to the rebrand and the change away from a purely retail and restaurant destination to a leisure focussed place to shop, dine, watch and play has been excellent from visitors to the centre and our tenants. The leisure operators we have in Castle Quarter now are attracting thousands of additional visits every week, which in turn is increasing footfall throughout the centre and throughout the day and evening, with the Vue cinema being open until 1.00 a.m and PureGym being a 24/7 operation.”
Aaron Roberts, owner of Gifted in Castle Quarter, said: “There has been a great buzz in the centre since the relaunch. We are seeing lots of new customers that we’ve not had previously. Sales have been good recently, bucking the trend in all our other locations. We have seen a large increase of families coming into the centre which we really thrive on. We are really excited to be a part of the exciting changes within the centre.”
Jonathan Winter, owner of Tea Junction, said: “With the addition of the leisure quarter, the higher footfall has been visible to see and we are looking forward to introducing new clientele, including a new younger public to the vast range of teas and coffees we offer.”
Castle Mall was designed by architect Michael Innes and is located in the shadow of Norwich Castle. It is built largely underground with parkland above, entrances on multiple levels and 13 levels of car park. It was opened in the centre of Norwich in 1993, attracting a number of major retailers and offering a variety of retail spaces and places to eat, with a cinema opening in 1998. It played a key role in catapulting Norwich up the scale of top UK retail destinations.
Current retailers at Castle Quarter include a mix of national and local operators, from Boots and TK Maxx to Tea Junction, a specialist tea and coffee merchant; restaurants range from Burger King and Starbucks to Bourgee, a lobster, steak and champagne affordable luxury dining experience.
