Intu Derby

Intu Derby, originally The Eagle Centre then Westfield Derby, is a large indoor shopping centre in the centre of Derby, owned by Intu Properties. Intu bought the centre on 20 March 2014 from the Westfield Group.

Intu Derby

Location	West Mall, Derby, DE1 2PL, England
Coordinates	52.919°N 1.473°W / 52.919; -1.473
Opening date	1975 (1975)
Management	Intu Properties
Owner	Intu Properties
No. of stores and services	199
No. of anchor tenants	6
Total retail floor area	106,130 m^2 (1,142,400 sq ft)
No. of floors	3
Parking	3,647
Website	www.intu.co.uk/derby/

Overview

Intu Derby may contain up to 200[1] shops, a supermarket, a cinema and many eateries. Anchor tenants include Next, Marks & Spencer, Debenhams and Sainsbury's. There is also a cinema, named the Showcase Cinema de Lux, in the centre. It has three car parks and is a few minutes walk away from both Derby's bus and railway stations.

The UK's largest, but mainly unoccupied, indoor market, the Eagle Market, adjoins the centre. The market and Derby Theatre, which is accessed through the market, were considered to be part of the centre until 2007, when the centre was known as The Eagle Centre. When the centre was expanded and renamed (see below), the market, owned by the Westfield Group and Hermès, but operated by Derby City Council, did not take on the Westfield name; it slightly changed its name from the Eagle Centre Market to simply the Eagle Market and introduced its own branding, separate from both the former Eagle Centre's and Westfield's), making itself distinct from the shopping centre for the first time.[2]

A much smaller indoor shopping precinct, St Peter's Way, is also physically connected to Intu Derby. Customers can walk seamlessly between the two.

On 3 December 2010 a fire, which started in the car park, caused thousands of shoppers to be evacuated from the building.[3]

History

The centre opened as The Eagle Centre on 20 November 1975, at a cost of £7 million. Several streets of terraced housing built in the early 1820s were demolished to make way for the new centre, including a street called Eagle Street, which gave the name of the new development.

Construction work on the site in 2005

The centre's market was rebuilt in 1990, and the entire centre was refurbished in 1999. A £340m extension to the Eagle Centre was opened on 9 October 2007 by TV celebrity Tess Daly. The extension sits on the site of the former Castlefields Main Centre, a dilapidated outdoor shopping centre already owned by the Westfield Group.

The extension[4] doubled the size of the centre from 51,559 m² (554,980 sq ft) to 106,130 m² (1,142,400 sq ft). As well as adding many new retailers, the extension also houses an 800-seat foodcourt including a KFC outlet,[5] a £30m twelve-screen Cinema de Lux and even more car parking facilities.

Many retailers, including Debenhams, Marks & Spencer and the now defunct Republic, closed their existing Derby stores to move to bigger stores in the extension.[6] When the extension opened, the Eagle Centre was renamed Westfield Derby, in line with other Westfield shopping centres.

In March 2014, it was announced that Intu Properties was to acquire Westfield Derby.[7] On 1 May 2014, it was rebranded as Intu Derby.[8]

See also

• List of shopping centres in the United Kingdom

References

1. Westfield fills store empty since launch Derby Telegraph 17 December 2010
2. "Derby Eagle Centre market or Guildhall market may close". BBC News. 7 December 2011.
3. "Fire forces Derby Westfield shopping centre alert". BBC News. 3 December 2010. Retrieved 7 August 2015.
4. Eagle Centre extension news Archived 12 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Plans for Food Court unveiled". Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 30 August 2007.
6. Westfield Derby Opening Archived 8 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
7. Westfield sells Derby, Merry Hill and Sprucefield shopping centres to Intu BBC News 20 March 2014
8. Westfield renamed Intu Archived 19 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine Derby Telegraph 1 May 2014