SouthGate, Bath
Encyclopedia
SouthGate is a shopping centre in Bath, Somerset, England
. It replaced the original shopping centre which was demolished in 2007. The new centre developed by Multi Corporation UK is more than double the size of the previous space and provides 37,000 sq metres of retail space, 3,500 sq metres of leisure space, 2,300 sq metres of restaurant space plus 99 residential units. It was designed by Chapman Taylor
to mimic Georgian architecture
with a Bath stone
facade; the infrastructure of the buildings is modern concrete. The current owners are the Lend Lease Group and it is home to over 50 shops and 6 Restaurants with 860 car park spaces.
, architect of the Tricorn Centre
in Portsmouth
and Trinity Square Carpark
in Gateshead
; and, on the east half of the site, the former Bath bus station
. The Bath bus station was demolished and a new bus station was opened to the south of the site and just to the west of the main Bath Spa railway station
.
The new SouthGate precinct occupies roughly the west half of an area of land once known as The Ham that existed up until around the time of Jane Austen
. The Ham was outside the line of the original city wall, which at one time formed The Ham's north border. (The first section of that wall, starting at the city's south gate, ran east roughly along the present-day New Orchard Street.) The Ham is remembered in the name Ham Gardens, a small street towards the north side of the precinct off Philip Street.
After the area for the new precinct had been cleared of the 1960s/1970s buildings, and before construction of the precinct's underground car park was started, an extensive archaeological project was carried out by Museum of London Archaeology Service
to expose, study, and preserve (to the fullest extent possible) underground structures such as sections of the original city wall, the 17th century 'Bum Ditch', a well and cellars from the 18th century, and the 19th century cobbles of the original Marchant's Passage.
The new precinct opened in three phases. Phase one opened on 4 November 2009, Phase two in May 2010, and the final phase in August 2010.
The area has 7 pedestrianised streets and a central plaza (Southgate Place), and is bordered by New Orchard Street, Manvers Street, Dorchester Street, and Southgate Street. The names of the new pedestrianised streets within the precinct largely follow the names of the streets that occupied similar positions before the area was cleared for the new precinct.
In total there are six separate buildings forming the new SouthGate: St. Lawrence House, Philip House, Debenhams, Block E/F (which has an arcade, Little SouthGate, running through it at ground level), Marchant House, and Southgate House. There are bridges interconnecting Block E/F with Marchant House, and Marchant House with Southgate House, creating a continuous goods-delivery first-floor corridor between these blocks for the commercial units.
The residential units were released to market on 16 April 2011. These are on the second floor of St. Lawrence House and the second and third floors of Philip House, Marchant House, and Southgate House.
s. There was a large fireball with one of the explosions, reaching higher than the surrounding cranes. Surrounding streets were closed while the fire was tackled. Trains did not stop at the station during the fire for safety. The fire was reported in national newspapers.
and has over 50 other shops, including Currys
, Topman
/Topshop
, H&M
, New Look, Apple Store, Cult, Urban Outfitters
, Fat Face
, River Island
, Republic
, and Boots
. Restaurants include Pizza Express
, Caffè Nero
, Krispy Kreme
, a branch of Giraffe Restaurants
, and Cake Café; and there is also a Sainsbury's Local
supermarket. Recent retail openings include Pretty Eccentric
and Plain Lazy. Currys is unique in being the only shop that has been continuously present for over forty years: it was in Southgate Street up until the early 1970s, was then in the old Southgate Shopping Centre, and is now in the new SouthGate.
Block E/F was originally designed to accommodate restaurants on the first floor and, on the upper floor, a leisure centre, including a swimming pool under the large central glass roof. Both the first and upper floors feature outdoor balconies facing into Southgate Place through Georgian columns spanning the two levels. Plans for utilisation of the upper floor are now in flux but good progress has been made recently on renting the restaurant level, with Jimmy Spices now at the south end of the floor (entrance on Dorchester Street) and Cosy Club at the north end (entrance on Southgate Place). Cosy Club's space includes the first-floor balcony facing into Southgate Place.
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 replaced the original shopping centre which was demolished in 2007. The new centre developed by Multi Corporation UK is more than double the size of the previous space and provides 37,000 sq metres of retail space, 3,500 sq metres of leisure space, 2,300 sq metres of restaurant space plus 99 residential units. It was designed by Chapman Taylor
Chapman Taylor
Chapman Taylor is an international firm of architects, designers and masterplanners operating from 16 offices in 12 countries. Headquartered in London and established in 1959, it has won a number of awards; including those that recognise its contribution to sustainable practices and its commitment...
to mimic Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture
Georgian architecture is the name given in most English-speaking countries to the set of architectural styles current between 1720 and 1840. It is eponymous for the first four British monarchs of the House of Hanover—George I of Great Britain, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United...
with a Bath stone
Bath Stone
Bath Stone is an Oolitic Limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate. Originally obtained from the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England, its warm, honey colouring gives the World Heritage City of Bath, England its distinctive appearance...
facade; the infrastructure of the buildings is modern concrete. The current owners are the Lend Lease Group and it is home to over 50 shops and 6 Restaurants with 860 car park spaces.
History
On the site prior to this development was the Southgate Shopping Centre designed by Owen LuderOwen Luder
Owen Luder, CBE is a British architect who designed a number of notable and sometimes controversial buildings in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and 1970s...
, architect of the Tricorn Centre
Tricorn Centre
The Tricorn Centre was a Brutalist shopping, apartment, nightclub and car park complex in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. It was designed by Owen Luder and Rodney Gordon and took its name from the site's shape which from the air resembled a Tricorne hat. Constructed in the mid-1960s, it was...
in Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
and Trinity Square Carpark
Trinity Centre Multi-Storey Car Park
Trinity Square was a shopping centre and multi-storey car park situated in Gateshead, North East England, demolished in 2010. It was particularly noted for the Brutalist design of its car park, designed by the Owen Luder Partnership. The concrete structure, which dominated the skyline of the town,...
in Gateshead
Gateshead
Gateshead is a town in Tyne and Wear, England and is the main settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead. Historically a part of County Durham, it lies on the southern bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle upon Tyne and together they form the urban core of Tyneside...
; and, on the east half of the site, the former Bath bus station
Bath Bus Station
Bath bus station serves as part of an integrated transport interchange for the city of Bath, Somerset, England.The Manvers Street bus station opened in 1958 and operated until 2009 when it was replaced by the new bus station in Dorchester Street as part of the Southgate regeneration...
. The Bath bus station was demolished and a new bus station was opened to the south of the site and just to the west of the main Bath Spa railway station
Bath Spa railway station
Bath Spa railway station is the principal railway station in the city of Bath, in South West England.-Architecture:Bath Spa station was built in 1840 for the Great Western Railway by Brunel and is a grade II* listed building...
.
The new SouthGate precinct occupies roughly the west half of an area of land once known as The Ham that existed up until around the time of Jane Austen
Jane Austen
Jane Austen was an English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature, her realism and biting social commentary cementing her historical importance among scholars and critics.Austen lived...
. The Ham was outside the line of the original city wall, which at one time formed The Ham's north border. (The first section of that wall, starting at the city's south gate, ran east roughly along the present-day New Orchard Street.) The Ham is remembered in the name Ham Gardens, a small street towards the north side of the precinct off Philip Street.
After the area for the new precinct had been cleared of the 1960s/1970s buildings, and before construction of the precinct's underground car park was started, an extensive archaeological project was carried out by Museum of London Archaeology Service
Museum of London Archaeology Service
Museum of London Archaeology is a Registered Archaeological Organisation with the Institute of Field Archaeologists and is a self-financing part of the Museum of London Group, providing a wide range of professional archaeological services to clients in London, SE England, the UK and...
to expose, study, and preserve (to the fullest extent possible) underground structures such as sections of the original city wall, the 17th century 'Bum Ditch', a well and cellars from the 18th century, and the 19th century cobbles of the original Marchant's Passage.
The new precinct opened in three phases. Phase one opened on 4 November 2009, Phase two in May 2010, and the final phase in August 2010.
The area has 7 pedestrianised streets and a central plaza (Southgate Place), and is bordered by New Orchard Street, Manvers Street, Dorchester Street, and Southgate Street. The names of the new pedestrianised streets within the precinct largely follow the names of the streets that occupied similar positions before the area was cleared for the new precinct.
In total there are six separate buildings forming the new SouthGate: St. Lawrence House, Philip House, Debenhams, Block E/F (which has an arcade, Little SouthGate, running through it at ground level), Marchant House, and Southgate House. There are bridges interconnecting Block E/F with Marchant House, and Marchant House with Southgate House, creating a continuous goods-delivery first-floor corridor between these blocks for the commercial units.
The residential units were released to market on 16 April 2011. These are on the second floor of St. Lawrence House and the second and third floors of Philip House, Marchant House, and Southgate House.
Fire incident
On 23 September 2008, there was a serious fire and explosions on the site, caused by gas cylinderGas cylinder
A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel used to store gases at above atmospheric pressure. High pressure gas cylinders are also called bottles. Although they are sometimes colloquially called "tanks", this is technically incorrect, as a tank is a vessel used to store liquids at ambient pressure and...
s. There was a large fireball with one of the explosions, reaching higher than the surrounding cranes. Surrounding streets were closed while the fire was tackled. Trains did not stop at the station during the fire for safety. The fire was reported in national newspapers.
Shops
The centre is anchored by DebenhamsDebenhams
Debenhams 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...
and has over 50 other shops, including Currys
Currys
Currys is an electrical retailer in the United Kingdom and Ireland and is owned by Dixons Retail plc. It specialises in selling home electronics and household appliances, with 295 superstores and 73 high street stores...
, Topman
Topman
TOPMAN is the stand-alone fashion business counterpart of Topshop that caters exclusively to men’s clothing. A part of the Arcadia Group, which also owns Burton, Miss Selfridge, Wallis, Evans, British Home Stores and Dorothy Perkins, Topman has a chain of high-street men's clothing stores located...
/Topshop
Topshop
Topshop is a British clothes retailer with shops in over 20 countries and online operations in a number of its markets. Its sales come primarily from women's clothing and fashion accessories...
, H&M
H&M
H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB is a Swedish retail-clothing company, known for its fast-fashion clothing offerings for women, men, teenagers and children....
, New Look, Apple Store, Cult, Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters
Urban Outfitters, Inc. is a publicly traded American company that owns and operates five retail brands: Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Terrain, and BHLDN....
, Fat Face
Fat Face
Fat Face is a chain of clothing retailers selling its own branded products. The company has over 190 stores in the United Kingdom, with international stores in Singapore, Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, France, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar. The chain sells clothes aimed at men, women and...
, River Island
River Island
River Island is one of Britain's best known high street fashion brands and can be found in most cities across the UK. The brand also has stores in Singapore, Turkey, Poland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the Middle East.-History:...
, Republic
Republic (retailer)
Republic is a men's- and women's-wear retailer with 103 stores in the UK.It was initially founded in 1985 as Just Jeans, but after 1990 changed its name to Best Jeanswear; Republic was launched in 1998...
, and Boots
Boots UK
Boots UK Limited , is a leading pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom, with outlets in most high streets throughout the country...
. Restaurants include Pizza Express
Pizza Express
PizzaExpress is a restaurant group with over 400 restaurants across the United Kingdom and 40 overseas in China, Europe, Hong Kong, Japan and the Middle East. It was founded in 1965 by Peter Boizot.In Ireland, PizzaExpress trades under the name Milano....
, Caffè Nero
Caffè Nero
Caffè Nero or Caffè Nero Group Ltd is an Italian-style coffee shop chain primarily based in the UK. It was founded in 1997 in London as the Caffe Nero Group by Gerry Ford...
, Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme
Krispy Kreme is the name of an international chain of doughnut stores that was founded by Vernon Rudolph in 1937 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The parent company of Krispy Kreme is Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Inc...
, a branch of Giraffe Restaurants
Giraffe Restaurants
Giraffe Restaurants is a United Kingdom restaurant and cafe chain, founded in Hampstead in 1998 by Juliette & Russel Joffe, and Andrew Jacobs....
, and Cake Café; and there is also a Sainsbury's Local
Sainsbury's Local
Sainsbury’s Convenience Stores Ltd is a chain of 343 convenience stores operated by the UK's third largest supermarket chain Sainsbury's. Sainsbury's Local stores have different branding and fascia to the company's supermarkets.-History:In 1998, Sainsbury’s piloted its first Local store in...
supermarket. Recent retail openings include Pretty Eccentric
Pretty Eccentric
Pretty Eccentric™ is a British clothing retailer.The first store opened in Brighton's Lanes district in October 2009- Corporate History:Pretty Eccentric was founded in 2009 by Michelle Scott...
and Plain Lazy. Currys is unique in being the only shop that has been continuously present for over forty years: it was in Southgate Street up until the early 1970s, was then in the old Southgate Shopping Centre, and is now in the new SouthGate.
Block E/F was originally designed to accommodate restaurants on the first floor and, on the upper floor, a leisure centre, including a swimming pool under the large central glass roof. Both the first and upper floors feature outdoor balconies facing into Southgate Place through Georgian columns spanning the two levels. Plans for utilisation of the upper floor are now in flux but good progress has been made recently on renting the restaurant level, with Jimmy Spices now at the south end of the floor (entrance on Dorchester Street) and Cosy Club at the north end (entrance on Southgate Place). Cosy Club's space includes the first-floor balcony facing into Southgate Place.