Debenhams to join Next as anchor at planned Castle Acres retail park

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 21, 2016

Debenhams plans to open a new department store next to Leicester’s Fosse Shopping Park in the new Castle Acres development by Christmas 2018. The development received planning permission just a few weeks ago.

Castle Acres will add around 27,000 sq m of new mixed retail space to Fosse Park, which is on the outskirts of Leicester, with the development being spearheaded by the Fosse Partnership, a consortium comprising the Crown Estate, Everards Brewery and retailer Next.

As part of the planning conditions for Castle Acres, Next and Debenhams have both had to commit to keeping their existing stores in the Highcross shopping centre open for at least five years with Next having said that the new development will not draw custom from the city-centre mall.

The £150m development should create around 1,000 jobs with Debenhams now signed up as an anchor tenant. It will also join TK Maxx, which is confirmed to open a store at the new centre.

The extension will represent a major expansion of shopping options at Fosse Park. It currently hosts stores including Accessorize, Clarks, Monsoon, Boots, New Look Office, Primark, Next and Pandora. Superdrug has just opened a store there.