White Rose Centre

Infobox shopping mall
shopping_mall_name = White Rose Shopping Centre
location = Morley, Leeds, England


caption = One White Rose Centre Entrance
opening_date = 25 March 1997
developer =
owner = Land Securities
number_of_stores = 107
number_of_anchor tenants = 2
floor_area = 680,000 ft²
floors = 2

The White Rose Centre is a shopping centre in the Morley district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It spans two floors and is linked to the M621 motorway. It takes its name from the White Rose of York, the traditional symbol of Yorkshire. The Upper Level houses the Centre's 'Upper Circle' food court. There are 4,800 free car parking spaces, security arrangements, and Centre 'Ambassadors' to help customers with heavy parcels and those needing extra assistance.

The site comprises 76 acres of land and was formerly the home of Morley Sewage works. Before building works could begin on-site in 1995, enabling works were carried out to remove the existing sewage works, seal any disused mine shafts, remove contaminated soil and profile the sloping site ahead of the main building works. This exercise required the movement of 750,000 cubic metres of soil to smooth out a 30 metre fall across the site and create a series of level terraces for the building and car parks. Work commenced on the 87 week project on 10 July 1995 and by September the first steelwork was visible. 600 semi-mature, 7 metre high trees were pre-purchased from Germany and planted in the car park areas to provide effective landscaping. In total, 5,000 trees and shrubs have been planted around the car parks and perimeter roads to further enrich the external design.

The centre opened on 25 March 1997 and currently accommodates major tenants including Sainsbury's, Debenhams, Marks and Spencer, Next, W H Smith, Bhs, Primark, as well as some 100 other stores. The South region of the Centre has recently been re-developed taking back space from downsizing the Sainsbury's store allowing for extra units to be added.

On the tenth anniversary of the centre opening, 25 March 2007] , the White Rose Centre [in conjunction with Real Radio were running a competition entitled '10 seconds to win 10K'. The prize was won by a local resident who correctly guessed that there was exactly £10,793.52 secreted in a ball on display in the centre. The winning guess was based on the date of the anniversary in reverse.

Recently a 26,100 sq ft Marks and Spencer opened in the former Woolworths unit. The store, which opened on 19 October 2007, opened under M&S's new signature style with contemporary interior design, brighter lighting, easy to navigate walkways and spacious fitting rooms. It includes a wide range of fashion across womenswear, menswear and childrenswear, as well as a food hall with a bakery on the upper level. An additional entrance has been created which leads out onto Car Park 5.

The Centre is managed and mainly owned by Land Securities, however Evans of Leeds are also a partner. The Centre has also won many awards over the years, these include a British Council of Shopping Centre's (BCSC) Golds Award, BCSC Purple apple, and Green apple awards. Peter Cook won Out-of-Town Centre Manager of the Year award and the Centre also has countless Leeds/Yorkshire in Bloom Awards under its belt.

Criticisms of the centre

One common criticism of the shopping centre is the width of the hallways in the centre, on the whole they are much narrower then at comparative centres such as Meadowhall, The Metro Centre and The Trafford Centre. One possible reason for this is that the developers underestimated the centres popularity. Another criticism is the lack of a railway station, despite the centre backing directly onto a railway line.

External links

* [http://www.white-rose.co.uk Centre's Website]
* [http://www.landsecurities.com Owners Website]
* [http://www.talkdirect.com/tpl.php?c=10 Letting Enquires]
* [http://www.white-rose.co.uk/files/5520.pdf Centre Map]