The Queensgate shopping centre is located in the centre of the UK city of Peterborough, in Cambridgeshire. It contains over 100 stores and parking for 2,300 cars in four onsite multi-storey car parks. Queensgate bus station is located within the shopping centre and only a short walk from Peterborough railway station. Peterborough Shop Mobility provide wheelchairs and electric scooters to help those with limited mobility. The Centre was opened by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands on 9 March 1982.
History
Peterborough was designated a new town in 1967 and the Peterborough Development Corporation decided to construct a new purpose-built shopping centre in the heart of the city. Planning permission was received in the late summer of 1976 and in November the retaler John Lewis Partnership announced that it had agreed to be the anchor shop in the new development. The opening of John Lewis store in Peterborough marked the company's return to the city after an absence of over twenty-five years. In 2005, Hammerson plc acquired a 50% interest in the freehold of Queensgate from Norwich Union Life and Pensions for £156 million. Plans were drawn up for a 646,000 square foot mixed-use development adjacent to the existing shopping centre, to be known as the North Westgate Project. If completed, the combined scheme would have formed a single 1,450,000 square feet shopping center. Plans for the development were shelved in the wake of the 2008 recession. In 2011, a £20 million revamp to Queensgate was undertaken, which included the clothing retailerPrimark taking over several units and an extension to replace the units taken over. Changes to the car park removed references to local historical figures in favour of a colour-coded system, but these were subsequently reinstated and paired with the new colour system. Paten Bridge, which crosses Bourges Boulevard, links Queensgate to the station quarter, which includes a new full sized Waitrose supermarket with a coffeeshop and restaurant, built on the site of the former Royal Mailsorting office in 2014. In 2018 some areas were re-paved and a number of shop fronts were updated. There has been discussion of covering the entire street with a glass roof, but the plans have not been finalised. In 2015, a detailed planning application for a £30 million enhancement of the centre was submitted to Peterborough City Council by new owners Invesco and its managers Lendlease. The plan was to create a 77,000 square feet extension in partnership with John Lewis, including a restaurant hub and a multi-screen digital cinema. Planning permission has been granted and work is scheduled to start in 2019; tenders for the cinema and the food hall have been allocated.
Queensgate bus station is located within the shopping centre and is a short walk from Peterborough railway station, a major interchange on the East Coast Main Line.
