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Empty shop figures revealed – vacant unit numbers “slightly down”
17/10/2023
Castle Quay was mirroring other town centre shopping centres
One in ten retail units in Banbury town centre were empty earlier this year – but the trend shows this number is slowly reducing.
During Monday evening’s full meeting at Cherwell District Council, the Council’s Leader Barry Wood revealed that 52 out of 470 retail outlets in the town were unoccupied in March.
He added that this was slightly down from the number noted as vacant in December last year.
Castle Quay was performing “on target” and mirroring other town centre shopping centres in terms of vacant units and footfall. Councillor Wood said that Cherwell was in detailed discussions with public and private sector partners to widen the offer in the centre.
The details were given after Councillor Dr Chukwudi Okeke told the meeting residents had raised their concerns with him in relation to the number of empty and boarded up retail units in the town.
He said that whilst he appreciated the regeneration work the Council was undertaking in Banbury Town Centre, the town was growing fast and needed a town centre that will serve the population well.
Dr Okeke asked Councillor Wood for statistics on the number of empty units and what the Council was doing to address the problem.
Councillor Wood said that work had been commissioned to consult on a Public Realm Strategy Framework for Banbury, Bicester and Kidlington and Banbury Vision would also be consulting on a blueprint for the town.
In relation to Castle Quay he said: “The centre was recently assessed against other town centre shopping centres and is mirroring the national trend in vacant units and footfall levels. However … the Council is in detailed discussions with public and private sector partners to widen the offer in the centre, reducing vacancies and increasing footfall, which will have a positive impact on the surrounding town.”
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam
Smith Christine/ On 17/10/2023 at 5:03 pm
shouldhave offered a unit for tkmax in Castle quay.how about offering farmfoods a unit.footfall would be good
Dan On 17/10/2023 at 8:54 pm
They were in talk with TK Maxx, but they didn’t even tell CQ when they moved to Gateway, CQ found out via Facebook. Not a great way to conduct business tbh.