Grafton Centre
Encyclopedia
The Grafton Centre is a covered shopping centre in Cambridge
, England
. It is one of the three main shopping centres in Cambridge – the others are the Lion Yard
and the Grand Arcade
, the newest and largest of the three. The Grafton Centre is on the eastern edge of the main shopping district while the Lion Yard and Grand Arcade are more central.
The Centre dominates Fitzroy Street and Burleigh Street. The main footprint is linear, running from east to west. It has three atria, the Eastern one being the largest. The mall is laid out across two storeys with some of the shops having more than one storey too.
Currently nearly thirty years old, the Grafton Centre is currently undergoing a refurbishment programme.
The main retail stores include:
It also has a bus station, food court, Vue cinema
and two multi-storey car park
s. It is owned by Prudential
.
During the preceding decade plans for the development of this approximately "kite" shaped area of land (at that time dominated by terraced houses dating from the tail end of the previous century, and extensively used for student lodgings) met with controversy and opposition: during a decade dominated by national indebtedness and economic decline, with investment funds in short supply, progress towards commencement of the development was slow.
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is one of the three main shopping centres in Cambridge – the others are the Lion Yard
Lion Yard
The Lion Yard Shopping Centre is a city centre undercover shopping centre in Cambridge, England. It predates and is significantly smaller than either the Grafton Centre or the Grand Arcade. The latter connects directly to the Lion Yard, which is in the city centre...
and the Grand Arcade
Grand Arcade (Cambridge)
The Grand Arcade is a large shopping centre in St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, England. It is anchored by the John Lewis Department Store, which is situated to the southeast of the site and which opened on 8 November 2007, prior to the rest of the development, which opened on 27 March 2008.It links...
, the newest and largest of the three. The Grafton Centre is on the eastern edge of the main shopping district while the Lion Yard and Grand Arcade are more central.
The Centre dominates Fitzroy Street and Burleigh Street. The main footprint is linear, running from east to west. It has three atria, the Eastern one being the largest. The mall is laid out across two storeys with some of the shops having more than one storey too.
Currently nearly thirty years old, the Grafton Centre is currently undergoing a refurbishment programme.
The main retail stores include:
- Bhs
- Boots
- DebenhamsDebenhamsDebenhams plc is a British retailer operating under a department store format in the UK, Ireland and Denmark, and franchise stores in other countries. The Company was founded in the eighteenth century as a single store in London and has now grown to around 160 shops...
(the largest store in the centre) - Next
- BarrattsBarrattsBarratts Priceless Ltd incorporates two long established high street brands in Barratts Shoes and Priceless Shoes in 2010. The Barratts shoes brand trades from 100 UK and Éire Stores and is committed to providing affordable fashion footwear...
It also has a bus station, food court, Vue cinema
Vue (cinema)
Vue Entertainment , formerly known as SBC International Cinemas, is a cinema company in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. The company was formed in May 2003 when SBC acquired 36 Warner Village cinemas. There are now 69 Vue cinemas, with 654 screens totaling 140,500 seats, including the rebranded...
and two multi-storey car park
Multi-storey car park
A multi-storey car-park is a building designed specifically to be for car parking and where there are a number of floors or levels on which parking takes place...
s. It is owned by Prudential
Prudential plc
Prudential plc is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom.Prudential's largest division is Prudential Corporation Asia, which has over 15 million customers across 13 Asian markets and is a top-three provider of life insurance in mainland China, Hong...
.
History
The Grafton centre was constructed in the early 1980s.During the preceding decade plans for the development of this approximately "kite" shaped area of land (at that time dominated by terraced houses dating from the tail end of the previous century, and extensively used for student lodgings) met with controversy and opposition: during a decade dominated by national indebtedness and economic decline, with investment funds in short supply, progress towards commencement of the development was slow.