Broughton Shopping Park facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Broughton Shopping Park

Parc Siopa Brychdyn
Broughton Shopping Park in 2008, pre-refurbishment
Location	Bretton, Broughton, Flintshire, Wales CH4 0DP
Coordinates	53°10′06″N 2°58′22″W / 53.1683°N 2.9729°W / 53.1683; -2.9729
Address	Chester Road, Bretton CH4 0DP
Opening date	June 1999
Developer	Development Securities PLC
Owner	The Hercules Unit Trust (British Land)
No. of stores and services	37 - retail and leisure units
Total retail floor area	298,000 sq ft (27,700 m2)
No. of floors	1
Parking	2,160 parking spaces
Public transit access	Road and Bus connections Other: A55, Hawarden Station, Hawarden Airport

Broughton Shopping Park (in Welsh: Parc Siopa Brychdyn), also known as Broughton Centre, is a big shopping area in Bretton, near Broughton, in Flintshire, Wales. It's the busiest shopping park in North Wales, with about 10 million visitors each year!

You can find many popular high street stores here, like Asda Living, Primark, and SportsDirect. The park offers lots of helpful things too, such as free parking for over 2,000 cars, ATMs, toilets, and baby changing areas. It's located across the road from the Airbus factory, about 4 miles west of Chester city centre, and very close to the England-Wales border.

Besides shops, Broughton Shopping Park has many places to eat and drink. There's the Mill House Pub, and a big Cineworld cinema with IMAX that opened in 2015. You can also grab a bite at restaurants like Frankie and Benny's, Nandos, and Prezzo.

History

How it Started

Broughton Park shopping centre first opened its doors in June 1999. It had about 300,000 square feet of shops. Before this, people in north-east Wales mostly went to Chester for their main shopping. Places like Chester city centre and Cheshire Oaks Designer Outlet (which opened in 1995) were the main options.

The new shopping area was a welcome addition for the local community. A TV star from Emmerdale, Malandra Burrows, officially opened it. When it first opened, it employed almost 1,000 people. It was home to 16 shops, including Soccer Sports (now Sports Direct), Tesco, WH Smith, Clarks, and Next. All of these stores are still at the park today!

Changes and Growth

In 2007, a company called British Land started managing the centre. They began making improvements to the park in 2014.

A new entertainment area was finished in 2015. This included the first IMAX cinema in North Wales, which has 11 screens. Five new restaurants also opened. Chiquito and Prezzo opened in 2014, followed by Pizza Express and Nando's in 2015.

In 2016, one of the biggest Primark stores opened here. It was Primark's 300th store! An M&S Foodhall and Outfit also opened. At the same time, major updates began for the park. These included fixing up public areas, car parks, and shop fronts. New canopies and taller windows were added to the shops.

In 2017, more popular stores arrived. These included The Body Shop, JD Sports, EE, and Foot Asylum. Foot Asylum's store was the first in North Wales. The big improvement works finished in 2017.

Today, the park has grown a lot. It now has 38 shops and covers over 365,000 square feet. More than 2,000 people work there, and it attracts 10.5 million visitors every year. In 2019, to celebrate its 20th birthday, the park announced it would support 20 good deeds in the local area.

In March 2020, plans were approved for a 24-hour gym at the park. PureGym, a large gym chain, took over the space where the Nike store used to be. This gym is the second Pure Gym in North Wales.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most shops at the park had to close in March 2020. Following rules from the Welsh Government, they slowly reopened in stages during June, July, and August 2020.

Border Location

Because Broughton Shopping Park is very close to the England-Wales border, it sometimes faced special situations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rules for reopening shops were sometimes different in Wales compared to England. This meant the park might be closed while shops just across the border were open, or vice versa. This caused some concerns about people traveling between England and Wales to shop.

Stores

The park is home to many different stores. Here are some of them, as of September 2020:

Shopping

Food and Drink

Footwear and Sport

Services

Entertainment

There are also plans to open a Tim Hortons store at the centre. It would take over the spot where the Carphone Warehouse used to be.

Impact

A report in 2018 looked at how Broughton Centre helps the local community and the wider area.

Improvements

From 2014 to 2017, over £24 million was spent on making the centre better. This included new developments and improvements.

Jobs and Economy

Broughton Centre provides about 1,900 jobs. About 1 in every 40 jobs in Flintshire is supported by the centre. At a jobs fair in 2017, over 1,000 people attended, and 60% of them found jobs at the park.

The centre adds a lot of value to the local economy. It contributes millions of pounds to Flintshire's economy each year. The local council also collects millions in business rates from the park. This money helps fund local services. Many local businesses within 25 miles provide goods and services to Broughton Centre.

Community Support

The centre supports the community in many ways. Over 994 school pupils have benefited from its Young Readers programme. This program works with the National Literacy Trust. Since 2015, over £91,000 has been invested into the Broughton community. Customers have also helped raise over £30,000 for charities through fundraising events.

Visitor Experience

Around 10.5 million people visit the centre every year. That's about 200,000 visitors per week! Most visitors (96%) would recommend the park to a friend. People often praise the staff, safety, security, and cleanliness of the centre.

The staff at the centre have even had special training. This training helps them understand and support people with dementia. This makes sure the park is a safe and welcoming place for everyone.

Environment

Broughton Centre also cares about the environment. During its big refurbishment and the building of the Cineworld, almost all construction waste was kept out of landfills. Over 40,000 tonnes of waste have been reused and recycled since 2013.

The centre has also worked to save energy. Since 2009, it has cut its energy use by 21%. This has reduced carbon emissions by over 300 tonnes. It has also saved shops about £42,000 on energy costs.