Intu takeover called off

[WillPS]

They are, at most, a few months away from administration.

https://www.globalcapital.com/article/b ... t-reckless

I thought it was just mad bastards like me that had ideas like this.

[WillPS]

Foreclosure on Lakeside, Braehead, Watford and Nottingham's Victoria Centre imminent:

[Pete]

What's the likely outcome of that then? Ignoring corona

[all new Phil]

Out of curiosity after driving past it last night, I had a look on Intu’s website to see if the Trafford Centre was open, and it is, but only for the M&S Foodhall, Holland & Barrett and Vision Express.

Which I thought was odd.

[WillPS]

What's the likely outcome of that then? Ignoring corona

The word 'Intu' comes off them I would imagine, in the short term.

[iSon]

Out of curiosity after driving past it last night, I had a look on Intu’s website to see if the Trafford Centre was open, and it is, but only for the M&S Foodhall, Holland & Barrett and Vision Express.

Which I thought was odd.

Same situation at Brent Cross. Only Waitrose, M&S, Boots, Holland & Barrett, Halifax and Santander are open. You can still wander around a large part of the centre though to truly give yourself that post apocalyptic experience. When I went to M&S the staff seemed genuinely excited to see someone.

[cdd]

So now there’s not enough operating capital to keep the centres open. Fail and having the land bought up cheaply would seem tempting. The outlook for retail may be appalling but it’s not clear what better use there is for the out-of-town sites. Lakeside has a great rail link.

I think we’ll see more shopping centres constricting their area of operations by boarding bits off which is the tried and tested method of futile cost saving. A lot of the C-tier places survive pretty much solely on the basis of a grimy supermarket and an ageing cinema with the rest of the area being a glorified corridor. London has a huge number of places like this that are just marking time until they get turned into flats.

That said, I took the train to Oxford a couple of days ago and it was full of the usual suspects piling in and out at Bicester Village. Clearly the demand is there if the experience is right. Not that I imagine intu adapting if they manage to struggle on. Just capitalising the "i" would probs help drag them into relevance...

[WillPS]

There is no chance Lakeside, Trafford, Metrocentre or even Merry Hill are at risk medium term. These are the centres with a future, and will easily find a buyer.

It's the town centre ones, including the now semi-permanently half demolished Broadmarsh, which I see as far less certain.

[Pete]

There is no chance Lakeside, Trafford, Metrocentre or even Merry Hill are at risk medium term. These are the centres with a future, and will easily find a buyer.

It's the town centre ones, including the now semi-permanently half demolished Broadmarsh, which I see as far less certain.

Eldon Square is fine I'd say, despite being city centre.

[bilky asko]

There is no chance Lakeside, Trafford, Metrocentre or even Merry Hill are at risk medium term. These are the centres with a future, and will easily find a buyer.

It's the town centre ones, including the now semi-permanently half demolished Broadmarsh, which I see as far less certain.

Eldon Square is fine I'd say, despite being city centre.

It's always there, after all.

[WillPS]

There is no chance Lakeside, Trafford, Metrocentre or even Merry Hill are at risk medium term. These are the centres with a future, and will easily find a buyer.

It's the town centre ones, including the now semi-permanently half demolished Broadmarsh, which I see as far less certain.

Eldon Square is fine I'd say, despite being city centre.

Derby, St. Davids and the Arndale are fine for what they are too - although there does seem to be a strong correlation between how 'intu'y' a centre is and how crap it is, I agree.. It's more the role retail plays in a city centre atmosphere which is changing, and I'm not sure any of them are ready for a department store-less future.