‘Extremely positive feedback’ as Church Square shopping centre close to capacity

With the Hardshaw Centre set to make way for new homes, offices, retail space, a hotel and market hall in a new look St Helens, several businesses have made the switch over to Church Square over the past few years.

The idea has been to consolidate more traders in closer proximity, rather than having numerous empty units across the town centre, and following successive business relocations, the occupancy rate at Church Square shopping centre is now more than 95 percent.

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Mayor of St Helens marking the official opening of Heron Foods inside Church Square shopping centre (Image: St Helens Star) With businesses such as Bonmarché, Shoezone, TJ Hughes, One Beyond, Select, and the Womble Inn relocated in recent months, many traders told the Star that they were “thrilled” to move to a more prominent location on Church Street or inside the busier shopping centre.

Following the closure of the Hardshaw Centre in August, there are now just three small vacant units inside the shopping centre, with “extensive discussions” reported to be ongoing to fill these. This is a marked increase following a reported 33% vacancy rate in June 2023.

With “extremely positive feedback” from existing and relocated traders inside the Church Square shopping centre, footfall is also reported to have improved thanks to the improved retail offer.

Select moved to a prominent location on the corner of Church Street and Bridge Street (Image: St Helens Star) Speaking about the consolidation of businesses inside Church Square shopping centre, Councillor Kate Groucutt, cabinet member for business, economy and skills, said: “The extremely positive feedback we’ve had from existing and relocated retailers is very pleasing.

“Given the considerable challenges town centres have faced across the country, the fact that Church Square Shopping Centre is now almost full shows the level of confidence in St Helens and demonstrates that our ‘shrink and link’ transformation strategy is working well.”

Queues outside TJ Hughes ahead of its Church Square relaunch (Image: St Helens Star) Manager of Church Square Shopping Centre, Steve Brogan, added: “The changes in the town centre over the past year have been greatly beneficial to the retail offer at Church Square.

“It has been exciting welcoming the new retailers to the centre, who have in turn seen a positive uplift in their sales since making the move.

“Footfall has improved, which is largely attributed to the addition of the new retailers.”