Inside 'ghost town' shopping centre in major UK city full of empty shops

Inside 'ghost town' shopping centre in major UK city full of empty shops Newspoint | 2025-03-25 03:39:14

A major UK is home to a "ghost town" of a shopping centre, where almost 40 units remain empty.

The shopping centre in Salford, , opened in 2001 as the Lowry Outlet Mall but was rebranded as Quayside MediaCity in 2020. This was done as part of a £26 million revamp of the area to include more waterside retail and leisure developments at Central Bay.

But rather than the mall being reborn, . There are 36 empty units, with remaining retailers including M&S, Next, Clarkes, Cadbury, TheWorks, Vue, Burger King, Subway, and Harry Ramsden.

have been raising a number of complaints on Tripadvisor about the centre. Some call it a "ghost mall" due to the empty units, others state how "cold" it feels, highlighting broken lifts and a "dead" atmosphere.

One called Quayside a "waste of time". They wrote: "What a disaster! The outlet was dead and dirty, hardly any shops and everywhere was freezing. No heating, nobody about, there were more people in Costa than the whole of the building."

Another called it a "ghost mall" after her recent visit, writing: "Don't bother going... Empty shop after empty shop, freezing cold and none too clean what a waste of a trip and parking fee..."

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"We are developing the plans for Quayside to transition and become a place more suitable for a town centre and this means realigning the offering to provide a better customer experience for visitors.

"This will take time to achieve but we are committed to developing a destination that has something for everyone, whether you're in Salford Quays to live, work, or enjoy your leisure time."

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