Last call for the mall? How shopping centres are reinventing themselves

BySam Read

in Bletchley and Northampton

The Brunel Centre was once a thriving retail destination, attracting shoppers from far and wide.

"It was incredible," says town councillor Keith Ely, who remembers its opening in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, in 1973.

Back then, centre:MK, a large destination shopping centre four miles away in Milton Keynes, did not exist, and the Brunel was quite the draw.

Now, like many other medium-sized shopping centres, it is struggling.

Vacant units and graffiti-daubed shutters dominate, and it has just one store left.

That remaining shop, a Boots Opticians, is set to close later this month ahead of the centre's planned demolition next year.

But Ely, 87, is not upset to see the Brunel make way for flats and a health centre, with only some retail space.

"It is a sad old building, isn't it?" he says. "There is no nostalgia from me."

In the Grafton Centre, Cambridge, it is a similar story, with shuttered units, a large empty former Debenhams department store and a permanently closed cinema.

There are long-term plans for a redevelopment to include retail but also a life science centre.

This may work in Cambridge, a global leader in life sciences, but it is not an option in much of the country.

So, in the age of online shopping, what lies ahead for these medium-sized malls?

"There are too many in the UK and many don't have a future," is the stark assessment of Subjit Jassy, a director at Pioneer Group, which owns the centre.

"The old model of retailers expanding to improve turnover has now disappeared because of the internet."

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   Image source, Milton Keynes Living Archive

Analysis by commercial property firm CBRE, external found that while the vacancy rate across UK shopping centres in the second quarter of this year was 16%, it was "significantly lower" at major centres.

Meanwhile, research by estate agents Savills found between April and June 2026 almost 73% of consumer spending in shopping centres was in the biggest sites, with less than 18% in secondary, or medium-sized centres.

"It is not just that shopping centres have one destiny; they really don't," says Dr Kardi Somerfield, a lecturer in marketing at the University of Northampton.

Some destination shopping centres are running at "almost 100% occupancy", she adds.

Back at the Brunel, Labour's Ed Hume, responsible for housing at Milton Keynes City Council, says: "We do need shops.

"The change here is about making sure we have a town centre that is much more open."

The hope is that more town centre homes will increase the number of people to use local businesses.

Similar plans in Norwich will see the Anglia Square development primarily replaced by housing.

But there are other options rather than just tearing a centre down.

Market Walk in Northampton is to become a leisure and entertainment space.

"Other shopping centres have a really important purpose as a community hub," says Somerfield, outlining another potential use.

This is what management are trying to achieve at another site that opened in the 1970s: Weston Favell, on the eastern edge of Northampton.

Footfall – the number of customers entering the building – has increased every year since the pandemic, says centre manager Kevin Legg.

"We are still relevant today," he says.

"Other shopping centres are trying to emulate and create what we've got."

What they have got is a mix of a large supermarket, a number of big national brands and smaller independent businesses, as well as other community facilities.

Not far from the library inside the centre is a church. It is currently being used by Silhouette Youth Theatre, a charity that aims to make the arts more accessible.

Next year it plans to create a 250-seat theatre inside part of a former Wilko store.

George Grande, voice lead at Silhouette, says being located in a shopping centre means more people can easily arrive by public transport and gives the group more visibility.

"We've had it before where people are like 'Oh, what's this? We don't know what this is.'

"That is how we can get other people to join us."

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