Highcross "poses challenges" to Leicester, says Coningsby
Leicester's Highcross shopping centre is posing a threat to other parts of the city centre, according to an East Midlands property lawyer.
James Coningsby, head of real estate at law firm Nelsons, told Insider the development has "posed as many challenges as it has provided answers".
Coningsby said: "The Highcross Centre has been a great success and attracted significant numbers of new visitors into the city. However, development has denuded the once thriving area around Belvoir Street and Granby Street.
"Even Gallowtree Gate has suffered as high quality retailers depart for units in the Highcross. In their place, we now have an abundance of vacant properties, fried chicken joints and charity shops."
The £350m extension to the Highcross was completed in 2008. It doubled the retail space available, and is now home to Leicester's first John Lewis department store and a Cinema de Lux.
But Coningsby said: "Whilst I accept that over the lifetime of a city its retail core will inevitably shift and shift again, as photos of the bustling High Street of 1950s Leicester demonstrate, the objective of the Highcross was to expand our retail core rather than just moving it - what I see around the rest of the city suggests we have a way to go."
