Right retailers for the empty spaces

You have reported that an area of Horsham town to the west of Albion Way and south of the Bishopric will be partially redeveloped to provide yet more shops, and that the anchor tenant might be John Lewis At Home.
By The Newsroom
Published 23rd Feb 2013, 13:55 BST

That retail concept is a department store without clothes and food. It concentrates on a large a variety of household goods.

Having recently been to Chichester, I find that the John Lewis shop is a clear span portal framed two storey unit in the retail park on the extreme eastern edge of the city, nowhere near the town centre and not surrounded by housing. You need a car to get there.

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It anchors nothing in Chichester, but only compliments what is already there. It will be more suited to the proposed retail park at Broadbridge Heath.

The centre of Horsham used to be the Carfax and the retail area branched compactly out from there.

Now the shopping centre is more like a snake stretching from Queen Street to the Guildford Road, a distance of nearly a mile, a very long way for shoppers to walk.

There are enough empty shops already in the town. Wouldn’t it be better to find the right retailers to fill them to boost the economy, instead of adding more retail space?

P.G. LUSHER

Trundle Mead, Horsham

Related topics:ChichesterJohn Lewis