The closure of an East Belfast shopping centre has been a large loss to the broader community within the space, with requires the location to be redeveloped.
After over 40 years of operation and with simply two weeks’ discover, on March 21, 2025, Connswater Shopping Centre closed its doors for the final time. The centre was positioned into receivership attributable to points together with declining footfall and excessive emptiness charges, together with the lack of anchor tenants.
In the yr since its closure, the shopping centre stays derelict, with smashed home windows and bricks lining the previous automobile park a well-known sight. The space has been suffering from anti-social behaviour, and simply final week four young people were detained by police for getting into the premises.
READ MORE: Four young people detained as derelict Belfast shopping centre becomes anti-social behaviour hotspotREAD MORE: Connswater Shopping Centre: What happens to site following closure
Local representatives within the space are calling for the location to be redeveloped, to keep away from it persevering with to lie derelict. The surrounding retail park, together with busy websites akin to The Range and Lidl, stays open and operational.
Speaking to Belfast Live, DUP councillor for the world, Ruth Brooks, stated: “When Connswater was closing, there was a discussion around how it got to the stage it did. It obviously lost its anchor tenant, and we’ve seen other shopping centres thrive.
“I do not assume it was an absence of willingness on behalf of the homeowners, they did strive all the things, however sadly it simply wasn’t attracting the names that will generate revenue to maintain the shopping centre going.
“The Range is still right here beside the previous shopping centre and does commerce, then you have got the remainder of the retail park, the place Cancer Research has taken the final unit, and it has actually grown within the space.
“The dialog round the place we go, what makes use of are still for retail within the space, however how we adapt to the wants of the world is a very necessary dialog that is ongoing.”
“It was like a daycare facility for older folks – they’ve nowhere to go now”
When Connswater closed, the 162,000 sq ft centre with 52 units had only 20 commercial tenants remaining. Many of the vacant units were being used by charities and community arts groups, giving the shopping centre a new life as a sort of community hub.
Ruth Brooks said the closure announcement sent “shockwaves” through the local community. She added: “It was greater than only a shopping centre and I believe in its latter days, significantly using charities and community areas, it meant rather a lot to the older community.
“There was a wee Translink bus that used to come down and the older people would potter around the shops, have a wee coffee, and see each other then get safely home. It’s been really sad to see that that community in particular has been displaced.”
Barry Macaulay is the CEO of Arts Care, an arts and well being charity who have been primarily based in a unit at Connswater Shopping Centre for 18 months earlier than it closed.
He stated the charity spent round £40,000 in rehabilitating their unit, which included rewiring, placing heating in, in addition to creating a dance studio and artwork gallery for his or her providers.
Barry stated they have been hoping to spend at the very least three years on the shopping centre, unaware they might solely get a number of months.
“I understand business is business, but what really frustrates me is that we were never really told the centre was going to close in that period of time,” he defined.
“After spending all that money, with two weeks’ notice, we were told to get out and lost every penny of that. We’re a small charity, we can’t afford to throw £40,000 away. That really angers me.
“We have had no recompense. You can think about the associated fee financially, but in addition the human price to my workers, the stress of it. We misplaced a implausible artwork gallery which we had susceptible folks coming into to do dances, that is all gone.
“While we took a hit financially, we’ve regrouped. We weren’t going to let this destroy our organisation. We’ve been able to re-establish ourselves, but it was a traumatic time, and we’re still reeling from it.”
As for a way the closure impacted the community who had been common customers of the centre, Barry stated: “There were a number of particularly older gentlemen who would come to the centre, it was almost like a social outlet for them. They would come into our gallery and have a chat and a coffee.
“The centre was virtually like a daycare facility for these lonely older folks – a facility that simply went away in a single day.
“I remember meeting a few of them after the closure, and they said they had nowhere to go now. They don’t drive, and it would be impossible for them to walk to another shopping centre. So that was lost.
“There have been 5 arts organisations and a males’s shed in a small centre. We had a few massive festivals, and we have been bringing footfall in and actually constructing it as a community arts hub. It’s a large loss to the native community.”
Anti-social behaviour hotspot
In the year since the former shopping centre closed, it has become a regular site for anti-social behaviour including criminal damage, with the front windows of the centre smashed up and boarded over.
Last week, four young people were detained for entering the derelict site. Ruth Brooks said those in the area want to see an end to such criminal behaviour.
She said: “There is fencing across the web site, however that may’t be sustainable within the long-term, and definitely what folks do not need to see is the continued decline of a constructing simply left to rot.
“We’re already coping with lots of dereliction and dilapidation on the Newtownards Road and we’re working via a few of the challenges that constructing management or council have in coping with these. So we actually do not need to see this continued.”
PSNI Neighbourhood Inspector Dawson stated: “We are aware of ongoing issues of anti-social behaviour, including criminal damage at the derelict premises and continue to engage with residents and community representatives. Derelict buildings by their very nature can be unsafe and we do not want to see anyone being injured as a result of being inside.
“Young individuals who select to have interaction in anti-social behaviour should perceive it’s unacceptable and should cease. People have a proper to reside in peace and to really feel protected of their communities. Officers proceed to work alongside associate companies, native representatives and the community to seek out collaborative and proactive options to handle the issue.
“Parents and guardians must speak to their young people about where they are and who they are with and also warn them of the dangers of getting involved in behaviour which could result in injuring themselves, others, or ultimately, a criminal record.”
Changing retail and housing want – What’s subsequent for the location?
The closure of the shopping centre has opened up conversations concerning how retail within the space has modified, in addition to shone a light-weight on the necessity for extra housing provision.
There have been no selections concerning the way forward for the Connswater web site, however concepts floated embrace a mixed-use retail and housing web site.
On this subject, Ruth Brooks stated: “The site’s closure has opened a conversation on how retail in the area has changed. You need to get the right balance and I think from coronavrius when we were seeing lots of offices being built, the conversation around what the workforce needs and what retail needs is ongoing, and we’re looking at the wider area.
“There’s additionally a dialog across the want for housing within the space as properly. I believe there are a selection of choices being checked out, however no matter is agreed, it must be futureproof.
“I think there is a need for housing of some description. Obviously the high street and retail model that has been floated in other areas does have its benefits. You continue then to have small independent retail units that do support the community.
“If you get the correct mix the place they’re supporting one another, and also you do have footfall from individuals who do not should go an important distance to return there, with the likes of housing combined with retail, that will be my private choice. To have a greater steadiness that’s properly thought out.”
Barry Macaulay agrees on the preference for a mixed housing and retail site, but added that a community aspect needs to be added into the wider mix.
“I would not prefer to see it simply be levelled for housing,” he explained. “I believe the community there still wants extra, whether or not it is some type of retail, possibly not the massive shopping centre, however possibly smaller retail items in and round a village sq. kind of concept.
“It would be good to see some sort of community hall there too, a facility the likes of us and other organisations could avail of. I would just hate to see the site being developed into housing alone, that would be a loss to the community.”
Video by Belfast Live videographer Justin Kernoghan.
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