Shopping centre owner intu has signed up Hollywood Bowl for its multi-million pound extension to intu Watford that is set to elevate the town to a top 20 UK retail destination.
It is the latest brand to sign up to the extension which will expand intu’s retail and leisure offer in the town centre by 400,000 sq ft, placing Watford alongside Edinburgh and Bristol in CACI’s top 20 national retail destinations ranking when it opens next year.
Hollywood Bowl’s 23,626 sq ft tenpin bowling centre at intu Watford will be its third within intu’s portfolio of shopping centres across the UK, with one of its biggest sites due to open at a 225,000 sq ft leisure extension to intu Lakeside in 2018. It is also opening a new centre at intu Derby this month.
66% of the space at intu Watford’s extension is now let ahead of its opening in 2018, with Debenhams, Cineworld and catering brands Thaikun, TGI Friday and Yo! Sushi among names already confirmed to be joining the centre’s expanding retail and leisure mix.
Rebecca Ryman, regional director at intu, said: “Our £180 million investment in Watford is really paying off with Hollywood Bowl the latest exciting brand to select intu Watford as the right location to attract affluent customers throughout the day and evening.”
“The fantastic mix of retail and leisure brands joining intu Watford’s extension will help to drive what is already a prosperous local economy thanks to the growing number of people set to visit this sought-after destination from further and for longer.”
Laurence Keen, CFO of Hollywood Bowl Group, said “We are really looking forward to working with intu on the launch of a brand new state-of-the-art entertainment venue at the extended intu Watford. Alongside this, intu Derby and intu Lakeside, we continue to find great opportunities to expand our family offering to new audiences.”
When fully built, the extension to intu Watford will create a 1.4 million sq ft retail and leisure destination.
