Major new retailer to move into town centre

Centre bosses say that talks are under way with ‘a number of popular retail brands’ - and a gym - as part of evolutionary changes.

The redevelopment will include a new ‘anchor tenant’ and the upgrading of sections of Swan Walk with wider mall areas and improved customer toilet and welfare facilities.

The former Bhs store site in Swan Walk has lain empty since the store shut up shop in August last year.

Centre manager Gill Buchanan said: “I am very much looking forward to the start of the works that we are hoping will begin on-site in early 2018 and to welcoming more brands to the centre.

“This is the next step in the continued evolution and growth of Swan Walk and there is plenty still to come.”

She said that the redevelopment was not just about the centre, but also about ‘the wider investment in Horsham.’

She added: “We’ve been working hard to make sure that the development and growth of the centre is exactly what is needed, for both Swan Walk and for Horsham.”

Plans for a state-of-the-art multiplex cinema in the shopping centre were given planning approval by Horsham District Council last December.

The proposals included the redevelopment of the western end of Swan Walk to include a six-screen cinema, restaurants, and a new retail unit.

Meanwhile, in separate development proposals, the final phase of a £35million rejuvenation project to transform Horsham’s ‘West End’ is still on hold.

Developers planned to create a new gym, shops, restaurants and apartments at the re-vamped unit that was formerly home to McDonalds.

At the other end of town, in Piries Place, another multi million pound redevelopment is set to start soon and developers have confirmed three new businesses set to move in.

Reef Estates is looking to regenerate the site, creating a new shopping front which will host a cinema, a 94-bed hotel, shops and restaurants.

Developers say the ‘high quality leisure-led’ shopping area is expected to be completed by early 2019.