A DOOMED shopping centre once loved by locals in the 80s is set to be demolished – and every trader has been ordered to pack up and leave.
Park Mall shopping centre, in Ashford town centre, Kent, will be completely flattened along with its two car parks.
Traders have until January 9 to move out before the wrecking crews move in.
Ashford Borough Council (ABC), which owns the site, says demolition will start in early 2026 and could take up to 12 months.
The council is planning what it calls a “comprehensive redevelopment” of the area but hasn’t revealed full details yet.
A temporary 200-space car park will be created while the future of the land is decided.
The first to go will be the boarded-up Park Mall car park, then the Edinburgh Road multi-storey, followed by the centre itself.
Hoardings will be put up around the entire site to keep the public out.
Plans show they could feature artificial green panels and images teasing the regeneration to come.
But not every shop will go.
O2, Kamson Pharmacy and Greggs, which front the high street, will stay open thanks to long-term leases.
The main entrance from the high street will also be kept.
Planning agents working with ABC say the centre “has been operating at a significant loss for numerous years” and “needs to evolve with the changing nature of town centres”.
They add: “Following the rise of online shopping and changing consumer behaviour, the demand for physical retail space and subsequent footfall has reduced.
“This increasing vacancy and decreasing footfall create an unattractive environment, promoting anti-social behaviour.”
The centre’s decline sped up after Wilko, its anchor tenant, closed in September 2023.
Council bosses say keeping Park Mall open is no longer fair on taxpayers as it would require huge investment just to meet compliance standards.
Currently, 17.7 per cent of shops in Ashford town centre sit empty – well above the national average – with 55 retail units unoccupied.
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
ABC says it will help traders affected by the closure with a three-month rent refund, a dedicated support officer and a £10,000 empty premises grant to relocate in the town.
But not everyone is happy. One angry trader previously claimed Park Mall “died” when Poundstretcher left.
In July, around 70 protesters staged a last-ditch meeting to save the centre, backed by actor Tom Burke, and a petition gained 3,500 signatures.
Despite the campaign, the council, which has owned the mall since 2015, voted for full demolition, saying it was the only financially viable option.
Today, most units are already empty and the once-busy centre, which opened in 1987, is now just a shadow of its former self.
Why are retailers closing stores?
RETAILERS have been feeling the squeeze since the pandemic, while shoppers are cutting back on spending due to the soaring cost of living crisis.
High energy costs and a move to shopping online after the pandemic are also taking a toll, and many high street shops have struggled to keep going.
However, additional costs have added further pain to an already struggling sector.
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs from April will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
At the same time, the minimum wage will rise to £12.21 an hour from April, and the minimum wage for people aged 18-20 will rise to £10 an hour, an increase of £1.40.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
It comes after almost 170,000 retail workers lost their jobs in 2024.
End-of-year figures compiled by the Centre for Retail Research showed the number of job losses spiked amid the collapse of major chains such as Homebase and Ted Baker.
It said its latest analysis showed that a total of 169,395 retail jobs were lost in the 2024 calendar year to date.
This was up 49,990 – an increase of 41.9% – compared with 2023.
It is the highest annual reading since more than 200,000 jobs were lost in 2020 in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced retailers to shut their stores during lockdowns.
The centre said 38 major retailers went into administration in 2024, including household names such as Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase, The Body Shop, Carpetright and Ted Baker.
Around a third of all retail job losses in 2024, 33% or 55,914 in total, resulted from administrations.
Experts have said small high street shops could face a particularly challenging 2025 because of Budget tax and wage changes.
Professor Bamfield has warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
