As part of its ongoing commitment to Festival Place, Marks & Spencer has undertaken a complete makeover of its Café. The new Café features an award-winning design, cashless ordering screens, new menu items and an extended seating area.
Simon Barrett, managing director and head of asset management at AEW, said: “The M&S Café refurbishment is a great example of Festival Place’s continuous evolution. The fact that existing tenants are investing and introducing new concepts demonstrates that our tailored strategic approach of retaining existing tenants and attracting exciting new ones, alongside several local operators, is proving successful.”
With 25 new leases and lease renewals agreed since the beginning of 2022, Festival Place continues to demonstrate its resilience and relevance as a significant retail and leisure destination. The mall’s leasing activity for H1 2023 has resulted in deals with Enterprise Rent-A-Car, Wenzel’s and Kushti Comics. Recent leasing activity also includes the provision of free space to the Community Food Link, a Basingstoke charity that collects fresh food and delivers it to those in need, to operate a new delivery Hub.
Having launched in October 2002, Festival Place was acquired by AEW in 2015 and is the highest ranked shopping centre outside a major UK city. It is listed in the top 25 of the latest Global Data’s UK shopping centres report and sits within Trevor Wood Associates’ Premier League of shopping centres. The 1.1 million sq ft retail and leisure destination features retail, dining and leisure brands such as Apple, H&M, M&S, Next, Waterstones and Five Guys alongside amenities including a Sports Centre with swimming pool and gym, a 10-screen Vue Cinema, a Flip Out trampoline park, Escape Hunt and indoor entertainment experience plus office space and a library.
Joint agents for Festival Place are Lunson Mitchenall and Cushman & Wakefield. CBRE is the managing agent for the centre.
