Following a successful trading period post-lockdown, Festival Place has signed new leases with Skechers and Monsoon Accessorize.
Skechers will be moving to a new, larger store within Festival Place, having signed a 10-year lease on 3,170 sq. ft.
Having remained closed since the start of the pandemic, Monsoon Accessorize has signed a new lease and will be opening on 16 September. This will be among the brand’s first re-openings since its acquisition by retail entrepreneur, Peter Simon, last year.
Neil Churchill, Centre Director for Festival Place, said: “Skechers’ expansion, along with a number of other significant lease renewals, is a sign of confidence in Festival Place and reinforces its status as a key regional destination. This continued evolution of our retail roster, alongside, major improvements to our F&B and leisure offer, will ensure that the centre remains relevant and responsive to local needs.”
Festival Place first opened in October 2002 and was acquired by AEW in 2015. These new deals reflect a successful programme of lease renewals by Festival Place across the 200 retail, dining and leisure brands at the centre showing retailer confidence in the scheme. More than 20 new leases/leases renewal have been signed to date in 2021.
Festival Place is the highest ranked shopping centre both in Hampshire and outside a major UK city. It is listed in the top 20 of Global Data’s UK shopping centres report and Trevor Wood Associates positions it in its Premier League of shopping centres.
The centre is located in the heart of Basingstoke, the seventh most affluent town in the UK and the largest in Hampshire. With some 1.7 million residents within a 30-minute drive and 11,500 office workers less than 10-minutes’ walk away, the 1.1 million sq. ft retail and leisure destination features retail, dining and leisure brands such as Apple, Next, Superdry, TKMaxx, Pandora, Jack Wills, JD Sports and FatFace. It features a spectrum of additional attractions to appeal to the local community including Basingstoke Sports Centre with swimming pool, gym and over 100 studio classes, a 10-screen Vue Cinema, a Flip Out trampoline park, Escape Hunt the world’s leading live escape room and indoor entertainment experience plus office space and a library with author talks and workshops.
Joint agents for Festival Place are Lunson Mitchenall and Cushman & Wakefield. CBRE is the managing agent for the centre.
