‘High Town can only benefit from our plans’ say development bosses

11:00am Friday 11th July 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

• Play Video

HEREFORD’S High Town can only benefit from stores like House of Fraser and John Lewis setting up shop on the Cattle Market.

That is the view of bosses behind the Edgar Street Grid (ESG) project who said a new retail quarter was needed to breathe life into a stagnant city centre.

They were speaking at a meeting organised by the Hereford Civic Society, at which the proposal for a new shopping area off Newmarket Street was the main topic for debate.

Jonathan Bretherton, ESG chief executive, said new investment was needed to stop Herefordshire people spending large amounts of money in Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff.

And he countered suggestions that the retail quarter would split Hereford in two by saying the project was a natural city centre extension.

But Mr Bretherton warned that if the ESG project failed then large out-of-town retail parks would spring up on the city’s outskirts with damaging consequences for the historic centre.

Alistair Shaw, a director of Stanhope, the developers responsible for the ESG project, agreed while explaining why top companies should develop on the Cattle Market.

“Hereford is known in the retail industry as a unique place because it is the number one city in the country with the least retail competition,” he said.

“Hereford is a three-to-four hour shopping trip and people now want a full day out. The buildings in High Town do not offer the type of infrastructure that companies like House of Fraser and Zara are looking for and that is why we need a new retail quarter.”

Garry Thomas, Hereford Civic Society’s chairman, said the group’s research suggested residents feared a shift north of High Town could split the city in two.

Councillor Mark Hubbard, who told the meeting there were 40 shops closed in Hereford, made his opposition to big national chains clear when he said that the lack of large retail stores was what gave the city its character.

But Mr Shaw said that something urgent needed to be done if Hereford was to have a successful city centre in years to come.

“We have already talked about the number of empty shops in town and this will continue to happen if we simply do nothing at all,” he said.