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When it was opened by the Queen in May 1972, Runcorn’s Shopping City was seen as a huge boon for the town. It was Europe’s biggest shopping centre, drawing big name brands and large numbers of visitors from far and wide.
Inspired by American-style shopping malls, the City represented the dawn of a new age for Runcorn. With its bold modern architecture and revolutionary design, it was envisaged as a “space-age town centre” which would put everything people needed under one roof.
Shortly after its official opening, a review in The Times newspaper said: “Shopping City is possibly the nearest planners have come to the sort of building imagined by science fiction writers. In appearance, it resembles a supersonic mosque, with gleaming white bricks even on the dullest day.”
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By 1980, there were over 100 shops in the 807,000 square feet complex, as well as pubs, banks, a post office, cinemas, a bingo hall, commercial offices, a betting shop and shopping streets with fitted carpets. Sky walkways linked it to the hospital, courts and the surrounding estates.
On the whole, people embraced Shopping City and were happy the town had been selected to house such a prestigious project. A Royal Mail stamp was even created to commemorate its opening, proudly bearing the words, “Runcorn Shopping City: Largest in Europe”.
But the City had its detractors from the start. People were promised they “need never walk down the high street again”, and for many old-town traders, this represented a direct threat to Runcorn’s traditional shopping habits.
Today, a narrative of negativity has built up around the shopping centre. Many bemoan the empty shops and lack of choice. Some blame it for Runcorn’s recent struggles, saying it drew people away from the old town and left Runcorn “without a heart”.
Speaking to the ECHO in the town centre, Debbie, 58, said that Runcorn’s old town was a “hive of activity” when she first came here decades ago.
“Shopping City separated Runcorn into two and it didn’t recover,” she said. “It was a new town when I first arrived here. There was an influx of people from Liverpool. Runcorn became two things. There were Runcorn people, and new town people.
“Shopping City was supposed to be this brilliant new thing for the town. But it was actually a disaster.”
For other Runcorn residents, however, Shopping City has been a godsend. Elizabeth Daley, 71, has fond memories of the City in its heyday – and still loves the place to this day.
She moved to Runcorn from Liverpool a year after Shopping City opened, and describes it as being “the jewel in the crown of Runcorn” at the time.
Speaking near her home round the corner from Shopping City, Elizabeth said: “When it first opened, on a busy shopping day you couldn’t move for people. At Christmas, it was absolutely packed. I used to do all my shopping there.”
Even today, Elizabeth still goes to Shopping City on a near-daily basis. She likes the fact the City is just on her doorstep and said it would be “terrible” if it were ever to close.
“It’s got everything I need – it’s got the Citizen’s Advice, it’s got the Health Hub, and for my age group now it’s ideal, because if I need something I can go there and get it,” she said.
However, she concedes Shopping City could do with more shops – and is particularly keen to see more food options for customers. Since Tesco left, the only supermarket left in the City is Iceland.
When the ECHO visited Shopping City last week, we noticed many empty units and relatively few shoppers. All the big shops that used to attract people here, including Woolworths and Littlewoods in the 70s and 80s, and more recently Tesco and The Range, have closed down.
The Range shut its doors a couple of years ago. Last year, one shopper described it to our sister site Cheshire Live as a “shopping centre with no shops”.
Many of the people we spoke to were crying out for a better retail choice. Sitting in the City’s ‘Community Square’, friends Sheila Gardener, 66, Elaine Sandbach-Abram, 69, and Katy Canavan, 39, were all unenthused by the offering at Shopping City.
Elaine said: “Everything’s empty. Tesco’s gone. The cinema’s gone. We want some shoe shops and clothes shops here. In the 1980s there was Rumbelow and Currys. There were a lot of good shops. Now, they’ve all gone to Widnes. We end up having to go to Warrington or Liverpool for shopping.”
Katy added: “Most shopping centres have a food court. There’s a McDonald’s and a Burger King outside the City, but there’s nothing inside. If it’s raining, what do you do then?”
Natalie Freeney, an independent trader who runs a stall in Shopping City selling tumblers, agreed that there are too many empty shops in the complex.
Natalie, 42, who was brought up in Runcorn but now travels in from Huyton, said: “When I was young, it was always full in here. I used to come here with my mum all the time for shopping.
“But now it’s empty. It needs more shops. There’s nothing here for people to come here for. People only come here to pass through.”
She has a couple of ideas to help bring in more customers. “People remember going to the indoor market here – it was a good market,” said Natalie.
“They need to let businesses come in and pitch up. Also, they need to put the heating on in the winter. If they put they heating on it would make a real difference – it’s too cold to hang out here.”
The owners of Shopping City, who declined to provide a comment for this piece, have faced a hugely challenging retail environment over the past few years. The move to online shopping and the cost of living crisis have clearly made things more difficult.
The owners have tried different ways of improving footfall over the years. Events like Comic Con are held in Shopping City, and the complex serves as a meeting place for a number of community groups.
Public bodies have also taken over some units to house community support facilities like the aforementioned Health Hub and a shopmobility information centre.
All this is in keeping with what Shopping City was originally designed for. It was always more than just a shopping mall. The town’s planner, Arthur Ling, envisaged the shopping centre to be the “natural meeting place for the town’s social and cultural life”.
But the clue is in the name – people do come here primarily to buy things. And the retail offering at present simply doesn’t seem to offer people what they want or need. To stem its decline, those empty shops must be filled.
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