Shopping scheme that would remain a dream
City Deals and city centre regeneration are the talk of the town in Swansea at the moment... but years before the latest schemes hit the drawing board, the ambitious vision of a shopping centre called Castle Quays aimed at revitalising the area. Nino Will
IT was the bright, new future for Swansea city centre that never was. Long before the proposed City Deal, the planned Kingsway business district, and developments such as the Bay Campus, there was Castle Quays.
Tony Blair was the new freshfaced leader of the Labour Party when the proposed multi-million-pound shopping centre was first taken seriously.
Conceived in the 1990s, it was intended to be the biggest ever project in the city centre, replacing a third of the existing site, a three-storey project to cover around 11 acres, involving the demolition of most of the existing shops and offices west of Castle Street, and would be bounded by Park Street, The Strand, The Kingsway and Oxford Street.
It envisaged the creation of a shopping mall on two levels, internal squares, with individual retail units, a footbridge linking Parc Tawe and a landscaped area replacing the Castle Cinema, along with a traffic system around Mansel Street, Alexandra Road, Orchard Street and The Kingsway.
The Castle Quays project had the backing of the Welsh Development Agency, and was welcomed by Swansea Independent Traders’ Association and the West Wales Chamber of Commerce, who said the core retail element of the city centre desperately needed modernisation and new development. No change there, then. One of Britain’s largest property investment companies, MEPC, had shown an interest in gettting involved in the estimated £100m project, and work was first mooted to begin in 2000. But the date was put back after all parties failed to reach agreement – and not for the first time. And the estimates of cost would begin to rise as time passed.
And although many traders backed the project, crucially, not everyone did.
One key opponent was the Kardomah Cafe on Portland Street, which faced the prospect of being razed to the ground if the development was given the green light.
The historic cafe, which on a former site had welcomed an illustrious group of creative talents including Dylan Thomas, Vernon Watkins, Daniel Jones, Alfred Janes and Mervyn Levy, had many supporters opposed to the loss of the business.
They were able to get the backing of 20,000 people who signed a petition voicing their opposition.
Another opponent described the plans as “retrograde, typical transport planning of the early 1970s, and unworkable.”
Meanwhile, developments around the city centre progressed, such as in SA1 and the National Waterfront Museum, and out-of-town shopping centres such as Fforestfach and Morfa thrived, to the frustration of those desperate to see something tangible in the retail district.
As time passed, the initial plans would slowly be downgraded. New developers came on board, but then the David Evans store, which had been due to be a centrepoint of the new shopping centre, announced it was to close.
Revised plans involved one major store and 30 shop units, and Swansea Council said it could be completed by 2007.
By then, it was about 15 years since talks about the development had first begun, and the momentum behind the project had run its course.
It didn’t happen, and there was predictable political fallout, with the Swansea Council administration of the time being accused of lacking any clear strategy for the city centre’s future.
In the meantime, more businesses closed and the city centre had begun to look increasingly tired – while towns and cities such as Cardiff and Carmarthen continued to enjoy growth.
Now, Swansea Council leaders say they are confident the proposed City Deal, worth £1.3bn investment, is set to be signed off by the Westminster Government.
The project, which encompasses the Swansea Bay region, would see the development of Swansea city centre’s St David’s site, land north and south of Oystermouth Road, which would be straddled by a broad pedestrian bridge, as well as the LC car park, with new shops, restaurants, cinema, hotel and an arts indoor arena, with a broad pedestrian bridge.
The plans are bold and would no doubt have a huge impact on city centre life.
But then, so would Castle Quays, in its day.