The centre was extended between 1997 and 1998 and completed in November the same year to provide additional retail outlets, as well as additional car-parking facilities and improved transportation to the centre. The Strand centre is also widely known for the 1993 abduction of toddler James Bulger, who was later found murdered on a nearby railway line. Police examined CCTV footage recorded in the centre and later discovered that two ten-year-old boys, Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, were responsible for his abduction and murder.