Before the days of truly enormous retail complexes like Manchester's Arndale and Trafford centres, nothing compared to one North West shopping centre.
Once the largest enclosed shopping centre in Europe, Runcorn Shopping City in Cheshire opened in 1972 to great fanfare. Attracting shoppers from all over the North West including Manchester and Liverpool, it was the centrepiece of Runcorn's New Town.
Boasting walkways 'in the sky' linking it to the hospital, courts and surrounding estates, as well as Woolworths and Littlewoods, in 2023 the shopping centre now is a pale shadow of its former self. Originally, Runcorn's town planner, Arthur Ling, envisaged the shopping centre to be the "natural meeting place for the town's social and cultural life".
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As previously reported in Cheshire Live, it took its influence from the fully enclosed US shopping malls of the 1960s and was built to contain shops and offices as well as other amenities such as a theatre, library, and central sports hall. The complex was built on columns allowing three different levels segregating pedestrians from the traffic below.
Shoppers would arrive at the retail level using elevated walkways from its neighbouring estates such as the radical but ultimately flawed Southgate Estate. The arrival of the shopping centre was hugely anticipated and a half page advertisement placed in a newspaper in November 1971, just before it opened, colourfully teased what the 1970s shopper could expect.
Pitching itself as a complete one-stop-destination for everyone's shopping needs "under its one giant roof", it teased the centre as being like nothing "anywhere else in the region". There were no roads to cross and so no traffic to avoid, adding: "It's safe to bring the children - they'll love it. The elderly will have no problems - there are places where one can sit down and just rest.
"It's a city without the weather. Once you're in Runcorn Shopping City, you'll see it's like summer all year round, because it's fully air conditioned and centrally heated."
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The advertisement contained detailed illustrations on what the complex would look like, and how easy it was to access. In its first opening weeks, it also boasted shoppers would be "rubbing shoulders with the world of celebrities" such as comedy double act, Mike and Bernie Winters, Doris Speed - who played Annie Walker in Coronation Street - and Miss England.
Shortly after its official opening, a review in The Times newspaper said: "Shopping City is possibly the nearest planners have come to the sort of building imagined by science fiction writers. In appearance, it resembles a supersonic mosque, with gleaming white bricks even on the dullest day."
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The interior of Shopping City was finished with tiles and marble lining the walls, columns and shop fronts. Newly unearthed images from the Mirrorpix archive show its light, multi-level design with 'futuristic' looking pod seating area at its centre.
The shops were laid out along malls designed in a 'H' formation, with its 'town square' in the centre, while bars and restaurants were planned for the second storey. The centre opened to great success, attracting large numbers of shoppers brought in by Runcorn's central location between Liverpool and Manchester and established itself as a premier shopping destination in the North West.
However, despite its promising start, by the mid-late '80s, the shopping centre's fortunes began to decline. A change of ownership and disputes about the condition of the complex led to significant renovation taking place, and by 1995, it had been rebranded to Halton Lea Shopping Centre.
In September 2009, Halton Lea was taken into receivership although the centre continued to operate as normal. After coming under the control of new owners and undergoing further renovation, it was once again to experience a name change, being rebranded as Runcorn Shopping Centre.
Despite several name changes, most Runcorn residents continued to call it Runcorn Shopping City, which the centre's name officially reverted back to its original as part of its 45th birthday celebrations in July 2017.
Does Runcorn Shopping City awaken any memories for you? Let us know in the comments section below.
Having celebrated its 50th birthday last year, Runcorn Shopping City is now once again a dishevelled and empty spectre of its once grand ambitions of the 1970s, with the consensus being its crying out for considerable modernisation and renovation. Various proposals have surfaced over the past few years as to what needs to happen to update the complex, but as yet, no official plans have been made public.
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