Images of how Grimsby’s Freshney Place could look with its cinema and leisure additions have been published ahead of the planning process.
The visions, including cinema, new entrance, community space, landscaping, cafes, seating and a relocation of the town centre market, depict the transformation of the western end of the now council-owned shopping centre and pedestrianised Victoria Street and Bull Ring.
What was once BHS and a parade of smaller units on the enclosed mall make way, with the Market Hall car park also gone as the height requirements for the cinema are factored in. There's a strong nod to the existing red brick and arched facade, with high windows opening up what would be the new venue for stallholders.
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Proposals go before North East Lincolnshire councillors at scrutiny and cabinet meetings later this month, before being submitted. Residents, market traders and businesses will also be asked for their views with public consultation events imminent.
Professionals – leaders in the regeneration of such spaces – have been employed to look at the overall design and have drawn upon similar, successful projects across the UK.
Cleethorpes-headquartered cinema operator, Parkway Entertainment Company Ltd, is already on board to operate the new venue.
A paper prepared ahead of the North East Lincolnshire Council Scrutiny and Cabinet meetings re-affirms how the Freshney Place Leisure Scheme will be supported by the already secured Future High Streets Fund, or from a successful Round Two Levelling-Up Fund bid. It was submitted last month with a decision expected from Government in October. Money secured in the former has been used to cover the acquisition of the shopping centre, having been placed into receivership at the start of the year.
The scheme, it says, has a wider aspiration to “dilute the current over-reliance on retail space within Freshney Place, providing a more diverse offer”. It has been reported that this is a top priority, following the local authority purchase of the shopping centre earlier this summer.
Officers said: “The long-term decline of Freshney Place and Top Town Market would have a significant impact on the North East Lincolnshire’s economy and community. Delivery of the leisure scheme resulting in an improved evening economy, increased income from car parks and an enhanced market hall offer would be a positive intervention to not only safeguard the centre, but also for the viability and vitality of the town centre.”
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