Broad Street Mall

Large indoor shopping mall located in central Reading, England

Broad Street Mall

Location| Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom
Coordinates| 51°27′17″N 0°58′34″W﻿ / ﻿51.454719°N 0.976174°W﻿ / 51.454719; -0.976174
Opening date| 1971; 53 years ago (1971)
Developer| Moorgarth
Management| Steven Connolly
Owner| Inception Reading SARL (2015)[1]
No. of stores and services| 77
No. of anchor tenants| Wilko, Reading Biscuit Factory & TK Maxx
Total retail floor area| 475,902 sq ft (44,212.7 m2)
No. of floors| 2
Parking| 720 total spaces
18 disabled bays
Website| www.broadstreetmall.com

Broad Street Mall, previously known as the Butts Centre, is a large indoor shopping centre located in central Reading, England. There is a large multi-storey car park with direct access to the first floor of the centre. It is close to The Hexagon theatre and the offices of Reading Borough Council.

## History

[edit]

Plans for the shopping centre were made by the Reading Borough Council in 1956, however it took more than a decade to find a suitable site and buy it.[2] The centre was originally known as the Butts Centre, and was named after the adjacent St Mary's Butts. The current name relates to Reading's principal pedestrian shopping street, Broad Street, and the centre is situated at the west end of the street. It was opened in 1971. The centre was purchased by Doughty Hanson & Co in June 2001 and sold in March 2004.[3] During this period they implemented a business strategy to update and refurbish the shopping centre to modern standards.[3] During this time footfall increased 50% and net operating profits increased 38%.[3]

## Shops

[edit]

Broad Street Mall across the crossroads, showing bow and arrow symbols on fence. The car park from above The Hexagon

Below are occupiers of the centre classified as strong covenants[clarification needed][citation needed]

* Boswells Cafe
* Bride to Be
* Brother2Brother
* Burger King
* Card Factory
* F. Hinds
* Grape Tree
* Greggs
* Holland & Barrett
* Iceland
* Jelly
* 118 Photography
* Reading Buses
* Martin's
* Metro Bank
* Poundland
* Reading Biscuit Factory (Cinema)
* Savers (UK retailer)
* Slaters
* Subway
* Superdrug
* Taco Bell
* Thai-Grr
* The Works
* Therapists on the High Street
* Timpson (retailer)
* TK Maxx
* Wilko

## Residential

[edit]

In November 2018, plans were submitted to the Reading Borough Council for 530 residential flats in the Broad Street Mall development, however in 2019, Inception Reading resubmitted new plans for "493 flats in three buildings, one of which would be on top of the shopping centre".[4] The two other towers will consist of one being 5 storeys and the second being 22 storeys subject to planning permission not changing.[4]

## Other facilities

[edit]

There are public toilets a Post Office and a NHS walk-in health centre.[5] In 2019, the walk-in centre was expanded due to its busy nature with £505,000 of funding from the NHS.[6] In September 2020, Co-Space Reading opened at Broad St. Mall which offers a flexible and spacious working environment for local businesses. There are 15 fully furnished office suites available to rent, ranging from between 4, 6 and 10 person, up to 50+ person spaces.[7]

## See also

[edit]

* The Oracle, another shopping centre nearby.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Home - Moorgarth". Moorgarth.
2. ^ Reading, past and present, Stuart Hylton. p.49
3. ^ a b c "Home". www.doughtyhanson.com.
4. ^ a b Fort, Hugh (1 March 2019). "Eye-catching new plans revealed for Broad Street Mall homes". Get Reading. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
5. ^ "Reading Walk-In Health Centre". www.readingwalkinhealthcentre.nhs.uk.
6. ^ Adams, Luke (28 February 2019). "The walk-in centre at Broad Street Mall has been extended and revamped thanks to £505k in funding". Reading Chronicle. Retrieved 19 July 2019.
7. ^ "Community office on track to open in September". Reading Chronicle.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Broad Street Mall.

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Shopping centres in South East England

Berkshire|

* Broad Street Mall (Reading)
* The Oracle (Reading)
* Parkway Newbury

Buckinghamshire|

* Eden Shopping Centre (High Wycombe)
* Friars Square (Aylesbury)
* Central Milton Keynes Shopping Centre

East Sussex|

* Churchill Square (Brighton)
* Priory Meadow Shopping Centre (Hastings)

Hampshire|

* Cascades Shopping Centre (Portsmouth)
* Chesapeake Mill (Wickham)
* Fareham Shopping Centre
* Festival Place {Basingstoke)
* Gunwharf Quays (Portsmouth)
* The Malls, Basingstoke
* Marlands Shopping Centre (Southampton)
* Bridge Shopping Centre (Portsmouth)
* Westquay (Southampton)

Kent|

* Ashford Designer Outlet
* Bluewater (Stone)
* County Square (Ashford)
* Fremlin Walk (Maidstone)
* The Mall Maidstone
* Pentagon Shopping Centre (Chatham)
* Royal Victoria Place (Tunbridge Wells)
* Westwood Cross (Thanet)
* Whitefriars Shopping Centre (Canterbury)

Oxfordshire|

* Bicester Avenue
* Bicester Village
* Castle Quay Shopping Centre (Banbury)
* Clarendon Shopping Centre (Oxford)
* Templars Square (Oxford)
* Westgate Oxford

Surrey|

* The Ashley Centre (Epsom)
* The Belfry (Redhill)
* The Peacocks (Woking)

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template