Thursday October 10 2024
Swindon & Wiltshire News
Regeneration experts Forward Swindon have been hitting the shops in London this week – in a bid to get more high street names moving to SN1.
The company, which is responsible for economic growth and regeneration in Swindon, has been promoting the retailing opportunities that Swindon can offer, alongside its commercial partners, FI-REM (First Investments), asset and property managers of The Brunel Shopping Centre, which occupies over half of Swindon town centre’s retail area with 550,000 square feet of space.
They were exhibiting at the British Council of Shopping Centres annual conference – the primary networking trade show in the UK for the retail industry – on Wednesday and Thursday under the Swindon UK brand, with the aim of promoting the town and its catchment to retailing, leisure and food outlets.
Earlier this year, Forward Swindon and FI-REM commissioned CACI, the independent retail analysis consultancy, to review and report on Swindon’s potential.
The results show that Swindon’s catchment extends to a population of 777,000, with a potential non-food spend of around £1.6 billion, and includes a high proportion of wealthy executives and secure families. This is significantly larger than the borough’s own population at approximately 210,000.
Phil Young from Forward Swindon said: “The catchment data says it all – Swindon has a massive market potential. We’re in a phase of expansion and improvement and this is the right time to be telling the industry to take another look at Swindon.”
For more about the Swindon UK initiative, log on to www.swindon.uk.com/retail
