Merrion Centre, Leeds facts for kids
The southern entrance of the Merrion Centre, as of 5 May 2007
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| Location | Leeds, West Yorkshire, England |
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| Coordinates | 53°48′07″N 1°32′40″W / 53.80194°N 1.54444°W |
| Opening date | 1964 |
| Owner | Town Centre Securities |
| No. of stores and services | 115 |
| Total retail floor area | 800,000 sq ft (74,000 m2) including none retail areas. |
| No. of floors | 2 (main retail area only) The centre has 20 floors of office space. |
The Merrion Centre is a large shopping centre found in the Arena Quarter area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It first opened its doors in 1964. Since then, it has always been owned and managed by a company called Town Centre Securities. When it first opened, it was an open-air shopping area. Later, in the 1970s, a roof was added to cover it.
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What Can You Find at the Merrion Centre?
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The Merrion Centre is a great example of a "mixed-use" building. This means it has many different things inside, not just shops! You can find offices, a car park, and lots of stores. There's even a Morrisons supermarket. For fun, you can visit a bowling alley, a nightclub, and several pubs.
Most of the shops here offer good value, making the centre popular with students and people looking for affordable items. The Merrion Market used to have many small, independent shops and cafes. This area was later changed to "The New Front." This new part now has restaurants, cafes, and fun places to visit, especially since it's close to the arena.
Over the years, Leeds has added new shopping centres like Victoria Quarter and Trinity Leeds. Because of this, the Merrion Centre has changed. It now focuses more on everyday shops rather than fancy, high-end brands. The main big shop is Morrisons. Other popular stores include the Leeds United Official Club Store, Iceland, Wilko, Superdrug, and The Works.
The Old Cinema and Its Secrets
When the Merrion Centre first opened, it had an Odeon cinema. This cinema closed in 1977 after showing the film Gone with the Wind. For many years, the cinema remained empty. It would only open sometimes for special events like Heritage Open Days. People who loved old movies and 1960s style really liked it. This was because, apart from the seats being removed, it looked almost exactly as it did when it closed. It even had old operating manuals and film posters! However, recently, the inside of the cinema has been cleared out. The old entrance on the ground floor is now blocked up and has cash machines instead.
Unique Art and Nightlife
The Merrion Centre is home to a very special piece of art. It has one of only two "kinetic sculptures" by an artist named Frederick Rowland Emett. This sculpture is called "The Featherstone-Kite Openwork Basketweave Mark Two Gentleman’s Flying Machine." Kinetic means it moves! Other artworks by Emett are sometimes shown in the main areas of the centre.
One of the nightclubs in the Merrion Centre was called "Bar Phono." It was originally known as Le Phonographique. Many people believe this club was where the "Gothic subculture" first started. There was a pillar in the middle of the dancefloor. It's said that this pillar inspired the unique "two steps forward, two steps back" dance style that goths are known for.
Merrion Centre's History and Changes
When the Merrion Centre opened in 1964, the Yorkshire Evening Post newspaper said it was exactly what every successful big town wanted to build. It cost £3 million to build, which was a huge amount of money back then! The builders, Parkinsons, called it "the most advanced shopping and entertainment centre in the country."
Modern Updates and Renovations
Many parts of the Merrion Centre still look similar to how they did when it was first built. While other cities were updating their old shopping centres, the Merrion Centre started to look a bit old-fashioned. So, in June 2007, big renovations began. They started on the western side of the centre. Since then, more changes have happened, including new lighting for "The New Front" area, which was launched in 2015. In 2012, the Merrion Superstore market hall closed. It reopened in 2013 as a Pure Gym.
In the summer of 2016, the Merrion Centre had even more major updates. The western side of the centre was made bigger to create new council offices, restaurants, and shops. New businesses moved in, like a Sainsbury's Local. The Morrisons supermarket in the centre was also updated and made bigger inside.
Important Shops and Location Changes
Woolworths moved to the Merrion Centre in the early 1990s. This brought more shoppers to the centre. The Morrisons supermarket here is the main one in the city centre. It became very popular when many new flats were built nearby in the 2000s.
A part of the shopping centre that looked like an old "mock-Georgian" street was never fully used since it opened. This section was closed in January 2016 for building work on the western side of the centre.
The Merrion Centre used to have an underground walkway that connected it to the Woodhouse Lane Car Park, Millennium Square, and Leeds Beckett University. This subway closed in 2000. By 2017, the open-air part of the subway was filled in as part of the centre's redevelopment.
In the 2010s, a part of the building on the eastern side was taken down. This section was sometimes called the '50p' because of its unique shape. Around the same time, the 'Merrion Hotel' was bought by the 'Ibis' hotel chain. It was renamed to show it was close to the First Direct Arena.
After the Leeds Arena was built, the Merrion Centre became part of a new area called the Arena Quarter of Leeds city centre.
Images for kids
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The former Georgian Arcade in the Merrion Centre was a dead mall
