To no great surprise, the Office of Fair Trading has concluded there are no grounds for a Competition Commission probe into Capital Shopping Centres’ takeover of the Broadmarsh Shopping Centre.
I’m not going to go into a rehash of the whys and wherefores of this process, other than to puzzle over why it happened in the first place – there was little likelihood of it leading anywhere.
All it really meant was further delay in a city where major retail redevelopment should have taken place anywhere between five and 15 years ago.
So, over to CSC and the question of what its intentions are now that it owns both the Victoria Centre and Broadmarsh.
Is it going to run Broadmarsh as a value retailing location and put all the posh frocks in the Vic Centre, or will it go at least some way towards satisfying the city council’s wish to redevelop Broadmarsh in a way which rids Nottingham of what many consider to be an ugly embarrassment?
In particular, what will it do to satisfy Marks & Spencer, which surely wouldn’t want to be in the same centre as John Lewis and House of Fraser? What will it do for Apple and Hollister, who were lined up to go near the foot of Bridlesmith Gate?
CSC has so far managed to avoid saying anything publicly. It can’t maintain that position much longer.
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