page_title: Manchester Arndale
section_title: Refurbishment
hierarchical_section_title: Manchester Arndale / History / Refurbishment
caption_attribution_description: English: Manchester Arndale, the High Street end (May 2009).
context_page_description: Manchester Arndale is a large shopping centre in Manchester, England. It was constructed in phases between 1972 and 1979, at a cost of £100 million. Manchester Arndale is the largest of the chain of Arndale Centres built across the UK in the 1960s and 1970s. It was redeveloped after the 1996 Manchester bombing.
  The centre has a retail floorspace of just under 1,400,000 sq ft, making it Europe's third largest city-centre shopping mall. It is one of the largest shopping centres in the UK, with 41 million visitors annually, ahead of the Trafford Centre, which attracts 35 million.
context_section_description: The typical life span of a shopping centre is about 10–20 years, at which point the owners may do nothing, refurbish or demolish.  In the Arndale, refurbishment began about six years after opening. Artificial lighting and undistinguishable malls, with multiple dead ends and no obvious circular route, meant that shoppers were, in Morris's words, "bewildered by its maze-like intensity". Parkinson-Bailey described the centre as "never the pleasantest place to shop in ... hot and stuffy".  Criticisms were addressed in a half-million pound upgrade in which roof lights were inserted to allow in daylight and pot-plants introduced. To improve navigation and to tone down the appearance, the flooring of each area was given a distinct colour scheme, decorative ironwork was installed, and a fountain was placed at one corner and a double-floor height aviary placed at another. The Arndale's own radio station, Centre Sound, was installed. Hallé Square housed a food court by day and could be used as a concert area by night if required. Beddington describes the results as "workmanlike but unromantic".
  Town & City changed its name to Sterling Guarantee Trust in 1983, and in February 1985 merged with the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (known as P & O), also run by Jeffrey Sterling. P & O decided to refurbish Knightsbridge (the bridge over Market Street) and double the rents. Work took place in 1990–1, and the most visible change was a £9 m food court (Voyagers) in an area not previously open to the public. The refurbishment was a success and increased the centre's popularity. Other refurbishments took place in 1991–3, despite opposition from traders who objected to changes that might take the centre 'up-market'.  The northern part of the centre saw little investment for years, and the market hall was seen as ripe for improvement.
  The bus station became Manchester's busiest, handling 30,000 passengers and 1,500 bus movements per day by 1991.  It was unpopular with travellers, especially women. Described as "dirty and horrible", its poorly lit interior was identified by Taylor as inherently threatening and a "landscape of fear".
  As a shopping centre Manchester Arndale was outstandingly successful, and the critics' opinions were not universally held – especially by its owners. By 1996 the Arndale was fully let, raised £20 m a year in rents, was the seventh busiest shopping area in the UK in terms of sales, and was visited by 750,000 people a week.  The poet Lemn Sissay wrote
  The Arndale Centre was always just the Arndale Centre. A palace of Perspex and people. A light extravaganza. ... a shopper's heaven on earth. In all its gargantuan glory I love it. Whether it is ugly or not is a purely subjective opinion. It is wonderful inside."
caption: The High Street in 2009. The original yellow tiles remain.
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