Princes Quay Shopping Centre looks to be under new ownership after the Managing Director of Tokyo Industries has posted about buying it.
It could mean an exciting future for one of Hull’s major shopping centre as Aaron Mellor, who’s company recently bought The Welly night club in Hull, announced on his Facebook yesterday that he had purchased the shopping centre on 1st April.
The Welly closed last year at the start of the pandemic, but Tokyo Industries announced in March that they would buy the Beverley Road venue and reopen this year once lockdown restrictions were lifted.
The company has a portfolio of various venues including some of the most inconic nightclubs around the UK. It describes itself on its website as a “forward thinking chain of deliberately unbranded music venues” so this looks to be their first venture in the retail space.
April fools day seemed like a smart day to buy a 300,000 sqft floating shopping centre in Hull. It’s massive, what can…
Posted by Aaron Mellor on Friday, 2 April 2021
Posting on his Facebook yestersay, managing director Aaron said: “April fools day seemed like a smart day to buy a 300,000 sq ft floating shopping centre in Hull.
“It’s massive, what can possibly go wrong…
“Anybody cool want a shop restaurant or experiential or event space… Give me a shout… I need to fill this beast with creative ideas and operators.
“Some amazing spaces within the centre for all kinds of creative concepts, events, brewery, bowling, cinema, F&B, co-working and of course retail, with its own 1,000 space car park and float up onsite marina.
“We’ve some big plans… Get in touch and join the ride.”
A series of tweets from BBC Radio Humberside’s James Hoggarth has suggested that new plans for Princes Quay Shopping Centre could include more independent retailers, better linking to Hull’s Fruit Market, as well as some cool national brands like BrewDog and Reds True BBQ. They’ve even spoken to a virtual shopping retailer in the US called DroppTV about opening their first ever store in the world, here in Hull. There are also plans to utilise the top floor of the car park by turning it into a retail space made from old shipping containers like BoxPark in London.
This is another big development happening in Hull to add to the list. We can’t wait to see what happens.