CENTRE SERVED ANOTHER BLOW AS CAFE TO CLOSE
Owners confirm exit as shoppers say town needs a boost
SHOPPERS are calling for a department store to open up – to help revive a struggling town centre.
Visitors to Newcastle say a big-name store – like Debenhams – as well as some ‘decent clothes shops’ would help to transform the town.
The pleas come after another business closed inside the Roebuck Centre at the weekend.
Frankie’s cafe has been serving hungry customers inside the High Street shopping centre for several years.
But now the owners of the venue have confirmed it is to close.
The reason for the closure is not known as staff declined to comment any further.
But now shoppers have revealed what they would like to see in its place.
Doris Smith, aged 65, who lives in the Westlands, said: “There is hardly anything left in Newcastle anymore.
“I only go into the Roebuck to go to Iceland or Bon Marche really. What we could do with is a big department store like Debenhams, somewhere you could have a nice look around and where everything is all in one place.”
Eighty-year-old Mary Perkins, who also lives in the Westlands, added: “I’m not surprised the cafe has closed because Newcastle is dead. There’s nothing here anymore.
“There’s no jewellery shops or fruit shops, we don’t even have any decent clothes shops anymore.
“It is a lovely town and there’s plenty of places to eat, I usually go to Blakey’s or Berts.
“But it needs to become more like Nantwich with the little boutiques and independent shops which sell different things.”
In the last few years the Roebuck Centre has suffered a number of blows after high street stores including Argos and Next decided to moved out.
Argos closed in September last year in favour of opening a new branch inside Newcastle’s Sainsbury’s store – that came just two weeks after clothes retailer Next decided to close two stores within the centre in August 2017.
Now only a handful of shops remain open inside the Roebuck Centre, including Dorothy Perkins and Boots.