Visitors to Bootle Strand shopping centre will see the first visible signs of its £20m transformation this month. Tony McDonough reports
Hoardings will go up in Bootle Strand shopping centre this month signalling the start of work on the £20m transformation project.
These hoardings will create safe spaces for surveys and other preparatory works to take place. While this will mean some restricted access in parts of the shopping centre, all businesses will remain open as usual.
In 2023 Sefton Council secured £20m in funding from the Government in what was then called Levelling Up. It is going to use this cash to kick-start the refresh of the town centre with the Strand at the heart of it. Sefton has started a public consultation.
In 2017 the council took out a loan to acquire the 400,000 sq ft 1960s Bootle Strand shopping mall for £32.5m from London-based retail investor Ellandi and Avenue Capital. However, by September 2021 its value had plummeted to under £15m.
In partnership with Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Sefton pushed forward with the Bootle Canalside project. This initially led to the opening of the Salt and Tar events venue.
In August it hosted the Music Weekender festival attended by 11,000 people and headlined by Sir Tom Jones.
Now, using the £20m cash injection the authority is set to partially demolish the Strand and redesign it to create new leisure, education and health services and introduce more green spaces.
Cllr Paulette Lappin, Sefton Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Economy and Skills, said: It’s exciting to see progress taking place with these hoardings being put in place so that preparations for the major work that’s starting in the coming months.
“While the hoardings are up, all the businesses will remain open as usual and that will remain the case throughout the whole development.”
Cllr Lappin added that rumours the shopping centre will be closing down when the demolition starts are untrue.
The work will be taking place as a consultation on the planning application gets under way, seeking people’s views on the Bootle town centre transformation project.
She added: “Following the success of the Music Weekender we’re really starting to see things moving forward in Bootle town centre and there is a real positivity about the impact that the changes will have.
Work on the wider area is due to begin early next year, with the first phase set for completion by March 2026.
Information will also be available online at www.sefton.gov.uk/BootleStrand, and comments or questions can be submitted to strandfuture@sefton.gov.uk