Insider Media Limited

The Nottingham retail sector has slipped behind its UK competitors, according to the general manager of one of the city’s big shopping centres. Richard Bowler, who heads up the Victoria Centre in Nottingham, told Insider: “If we look at the lack of development within the city, then there’s been nothing happening on the retail side for the last 10 to 15 years. When you add in what’s happened in Derby with Westfield and in Leicester with Highcross, then Nottingham is falling behind.

“And that’s without mentioning our traditional rivals like Birmingham and Manchester.”

He said the way out of this malaise is to offer potential inward investors larger unit sizes. “We need space, size and location in 2010, and that’s something which Nottingham is lacking. The Victoria Centre is 38 years old, and we need bigger units to meet demand from retailers.”

Bowler said that with the current downturn in retail interest, the plans to extend the Victoria Centre, mooted earlier this year, are now “more important than ever”.

“We need to extend the northern part of the Victoria Centre, and the emphasis on this has become stronger the more we’ve talked to retailers who want to come to Nottingham,” he said.

He added: “The recession has made it very hard to put this plans into practice. I think the people of Nottingham have been disappointed with Westfield’s plans for Nottingham, and there really does need to be a sense of momentum about getting things out of the ground. That’s what both our customers and our tenants and potential tenants are telling us.”

Bowler admitted that the Victoria Centre had initially been affected by the new Westfield in Derby and the Highcross extension in Leicester.

He said: “There’s always an initial surge when a new competitor comes to the market, but it’s not affecting us now. Visitor numbers are up 2 per cent against last year. Nottingham people are very loyal when it comes to where they like to shop.”