Welcome to Sir Tony Lloyd Square, at the heart of Stretford’s new town centre

After many years of hoping, and a few years of development, the first phase of Stretford’s new town centre is finally open! While there’s still much work to be done on the fit-out of the units, there was a party atmosphere in the new Sir Tony Lloyd Square today for the official opening.

The first phase of development sees the roof removed from the section of King Street that once was in Stretford Mall. Similarly with the newly christened Sir Tony Lloyd Square and
Pinnington Lane.

This creates a very pleasant open, traffic-free space, which will no doubt become a great place to hang out and socialise, once a few food and drink establishments open there. You’d never know you’re just a short walk from the A56.

The new square and streets have a really pleasant, intimate feel, with good quality materials used on the buildings and public realm. I’m reminded of the many pedestrianised town centres we’ve been to in the Netherlands, which is a good sign.

King Street before Stretford Arndale construction, Arndale House on the left and the Conservative Club on the right, both buildings still exist — King Street before Stretford Arndale construction, Arndale House on the left and the Conservative Club on the right

I’m particularly pleased to see the that façades have been styled to match the style of the old Arndale House building that was consumed by the mall and hidden for many years. Including this continuity with the past shows the care and attention that’s been taken during design and development.

It’s also great to see quality paving has been used and they’ve not just put asphalt down, like they have in Stamford Quarter in Altrincham. I would say they definitely need more greenery and seating, and where’s the cycle parking?

Now if I was the boastful type (I’m not on the whole, but I have my moments), I could claim a partial credit for the new town centre, with some of the ideas I put forward in my 2019 post 10 steps to revitalising Stretford town centre.

From my post 10 steps to revitalising Stretford town centre

In that post, one of my proposals was to reinstate King Street, by removing the mall roof and demolishing the car park. They’ve elected to keep the car park, which actually makes sense with the relocation of the ramp, which was the most problematic aspect.

In many ways, what’s actually being built is far more significant than I had proposed. I had looked to repurpose as much of Stretford Mall as possible, for both financial and environment costs. Whereas the next phase of development will see what remains of Stretford Mall being demolished.

Revised plans for Stretford town centre (see PDF version for more details)

While initially it may look like that other than the removal of the roof and new shop frontages, not that much has changed. Those new frontages hide a significant amount of construction work that’s taken place, with all the buildings going back to bare concrete and reconstructed.

Newly redeveloped section of King Street

A significant amount of work has also been carried out on the multistorey car park, which has been fully refurbished and had its ramp relocated inside the building. The car park isn’t open as yet and the space below it is still a construction site.

At one stage, there were proposals to use the space below the car park for smaller shipping container style units, for independent traders, similar to what Hatch was like (another Bruntwood development).

In the revised plans, there is a market hall space below the car park, so it appears that something like this is still planned, though I believe PureGym are also due to relocate under car park as well.

What’s left of Stretford Mall remains open for now. Though plans are in place for its demolition, as part of the next of development, which will see it replaced with residential and green spaces.

Proposals for these have already caused some concerns, particularly with those living on nearby streets. As many will no doubt be surprised, a lot of concerns are around car parking, as the new residential areas are not planned to include any parking.

Unfortunately, this demonstrates just how car-brained many people are. Stretford town centre has a Metrolink tram stop, an extensive selection of bus routes connecting to it and a protected cycle route to Manchester city centre.

Not everyone needs to own a car, and many are choosing in locations with good public transport and cycling connections to avoid having one.

While what’s been carried out in the initial phase is fantastic. We really need high density residential development in the town centre, to really bring the town centre to life. So I fully welcome that.