Brewery taken down to make way for shops
IT was the source of millions of pints of the finest ale for more than 30 years but now the old Everards Brewery is being torn down brick by brick.
These pictures show the company’s old headquarters being demolished as the site is prepared to make way for a £135 million extension to Fosse Park.
The old brewery, which opened in 1985, will make way for nine new stores and six more food outlets.
Everards plan to build a modern brewery on the other side of Soar Valley Way next to Leicestershire Police’s headquarters.
Its beer is temporarily being brewed externally and the company has set up at a site it owns in Glenfield.
Big name stores moving on to the cleared 12.5 acre site will include a Debenhams, TK Maxx and Clarks, alongside a flagship Next store.
The shopping park already attracts 10 million visitors a year and the extension is due to be completed in 2020, at least a year later than Debenhams had anticipated back in 2016.
Michael Bell is senior asset manager for The Crown Estate which bought Fosse Park in the summer of 2014 with Chinese investor Ginkgo Tree Asset Management.
He previously told the Mercury: “This is the beginning of a really exciting journey for Fosse.
“The development of Castle Acres will create a fantastic new retail offer for our customers and further enhance Fosse’s position as one of the UK’s best loved retail destinations.
“We are delighted to get started on site and look forward to working closely with our local partners as the scheme progresses.”
The redevelopment was given the go-ahead last autumn when, after several months of delays, the shopping centre’s owners agreed a deal to buy the Everards site.
Both Next and Debenhams have had to guarantee to keep their Highcross stores open for at least five years.
The planning process for the redevelopment was led by Everards and supported by Next, which has its national HQ two miles up the road in Enderby.
Some 60 per cent of the Castle Acres site is pre-let.
In the past year, £12.7 million has been spent upgrading stores and store fronts and on landscaping, public spaces and parking.
Five new retailers - Office, Pandora, Primark, Superdrug and JD Sports – have joined the existing line-up.