The Dolphin Shopping Centre is a shopping centre in

Poole Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council ...

, Dorset, England, formerly known as the Arndale Centre. The shopping centre adjoins Poole Bus Station.

History and development

In 1957 discussions began about creating a covered in shopping centre in the heart of Poole town centre, in a similar vein to those popular at the time in America. In 1963 property developers were invited by Poole Corporation to present schemes to develop this shopping centre as part of a redevelopment of the town. The winning scheme was for a £2 million redevelopment by the Arndale Property Trust on land at High Street, Seldown Lane and Kingland Road known as the Ladies Walking Field.
Poole High Street Project (2012). Poole High Street Project Blog – Life Before The Arndale. 21 March 2012. One of the main reasons Arndale won was that their proposal incorporated a fully enclosed shopping centre.Building Magazine (1970). Shopping in Comfort. Building, 4 September 1970. pp. 55–60. The scheme was to be designed by Leslie Jones and Partners in association with Geoffrey Hopkinson; Poole Borough Architect and Chief Planning Officer, the structural engineers were to be Bowden Sillett and Partners and the main contractors were to be

Sir Lindsay Parkinson Sir Lindsay Parkinson & Company Ltd, commonly known as Sir Lindsay Parkinson & Co. Ltd or Lindsay Parkinson was a civil engineering company in the UK. It was acquired by Leonard Fairclough & Son in 1974, which later (1982) merged into AMEC, and ...

and Company. The transformation of Poole Town Centre started in June 1966 when work began on a new road layout
Daily Echo (2012). Dolphin Centre Facelift: History of the Original Arndale Mall. Daily Echo, 28 January 2012. and construction of the shopping centre commenced in March 1967 when the then Mayor of Poole, Alderman Ron Hart, dug the first turf.

Phase One

Phase One of the centre was opened at 10:30am on 1 July 1969 by the Mayor of Poole, Alderman Lloyd-Allen and was an American style mall which included 93 retail units, offices, a sports centre, bus terminus and a library. The cost had risen to £3m, but with 200,000 shoppers a week passing through the centre, it was deemed so successful that plans for a second phase were unveiled at the centre's first birthday party. A much loved feature of phase one were a series of

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animals, designed as 'play sculptures' for children. There were four sculptures originally: a hippo, a turtle, a whale and a snake, and they were created by local artist Peter Hand.
Henderson, Diana (2013). Dolphin Centre's Wooden Animals on Their Way Back to Town's Shopping Hub After Facebook Campaign. Daily Echo, 21 November 2013. Hand received the commission for the play sculptures while working in part-time teaching post in the Sculpture Department at a local arts college and they were the first of many commissions for similar shopping centres across the UK.
Digswell Arts Trust. Fellowship Alumni – Peter Hand.

Phase Two

Phase Two of the centre started in 1980 and the Arndale Centre grew to its final size with the approval of Phase Two B after a Public Inquiry in January 1982. This was topped out in March 1984 in a ceremony involving the Mayor, Cllr Roger Buss and Mr Ron Jennings, the deputy chairman of the development company; Town and City Properties (who by this time had absorbed Arndale Property TrustScott, Peter (1996). The Property Masters: A History of the British Commercial Property Sector. Taylor and Francis: Abingdon. Page 151.). A time capsule containing coins, documents and a copy of the Daily Telegraph was buried under the concrete at the highest point of the development.
Poole High Street Project (2012). Poole High Street Project Blog – The Dolphin Centre: The Beginnings. 7 August 2012.

Dolphin Shopping Centre

In 1989 an £8 million refurbishment programme was carried out on the centre, which emerged with a new name ; The Dolphin Shopping Centre. Dolphin Shopping Centre. About Us – History. The three remaining wooden ‘play sculptures’ (the hippo, the turtle and the whale) were removed in 1997 (the snake had been removed some years earlier before being stored in an open area in one of the service areas of the centre and later removed as rubbish).
Astrup, Juliette (2008). Rubbish? Serpently Not! Daily Echo, 5 July 2008. The centre was acquired in 2003 by

Grosvenor Group Grosvenor Group Limited is an internationally diversified property group, which traces its origins to 1677 and has its headquarters in London, England. It has a global reach, now in 62 international cities, with offices in 14 of them, operated on ...

, who sold it to Dutch property investment company; Wereldhave in December 2010 for £85 million. It was then later sold to

Legal & General Legal & General Group plc, commonly known as Legal & General, is a British multinational financial services and asset management company headquartered in London, England. Its products and services include investment management, lifetime mortg ...

in 2013 for £58 million. In 2004, as the centre became increasingly popular, a further multimillion-pound refurbishment programme was completed. The centre entrances were redeveloped, access for shoppers with disabilities was enhanced, and the interior was given a facelift for the first time since 1989. Poole Sports Centre closed just before Christmas 2007 when operator UK Sports Centres LTD went into liquidation and the space was marketing by agents Sibbett Gregory for disposal.
Astrup, Juliette (2008). Outcry Over Closure Fails to Save Centre. Daily Echo, 22 October 2008. In May 2008, after an absence of eleven years, the 'play sculptures' returned to the centre and were displayed in rotation as part of specially designed enclosure, where they collected funds for local charities. In 2013 it was rumoured that the 'play sculptures' could be returned to the centre on a full-time basis, and that children might once again be allowed to play on them. The

Marks & Spencer Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...

s store, which opened in 1971, closed for the final time on 8 January 2022.

Poole Bus Station

Poole Bus Station is a municipal building in Poole Town Centre, England. The bus station adjoins the Dolphin Shopping Centre and is opposite the Lighthouse Theatre. Poole Bus Station is the largest

bus station A bus station or a bus interchange is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. While the term bus depot can also be used to refer to a bus station, it generally refers to a bus garage. A bus station is ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...

and is a key travel hub on the

South Coast of England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...

. The station is owned partially by

Wilts & Dorset Wilts & DorsetCompanies House extract company no 1671355
Wi ...

, and partially by

Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council is a unitary local authority for the district of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in England that came into being on 1 April 2019. It was created from the areas that were previously administered ...

. It is used by

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

. The bus station is notorious for its lack of tidiness and

anti-social behaviour Antisocial behavior is a behavior that is defined as the violation of the rights of others by committing crime, such as stealing and physical attack in addition to other behaviors such as lying and manipulation. It is considered to be disrupti ...

and has been identified as a crime hotspot by

Dorset Police Dorset Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the county of Dorset in the south-west of England, which includes the largely rural area covered by Dorset Council, and the urban conurbation of Bournemouth, Christchurch ...

History

A bus station has been on the site since at least the

1960s File:1960s montage.png, Clockwise from top left: U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War; the Beatles led the British Invasion of the U.S. music market; a half-a-million people participate in the 1969 Woodstock Festival; Neil Armstrong and Bu ...

. The bus station was redeveloped in 2009 with improved lighting and new kerbs, and with the UK's largest outdoor

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

being painted onto the ceiling by Penson Architects. The process cost £300,000 and was supported by the Dolphin Shopping Centre and

Poole Borough Council Poole Borough Council was the unitary authority responsible for local government in the Borough of Poole, Dorset, England. It was created on 1 April 1997 following a review by the Local Government Commission for England (1992), becoming administ ...

. The mural graphic contains over 500 panels over 1000 square metres. The revamp was officially opened by town mayor Joyce Lavender. In 2017, the bus station was severely flooded. Also in 2017, a £134 million revamp of Poole Town Centre, including the bus station was unveiled. In 2018, the bus station was attacked by youths and damage was caused to lights and windows. In 2019, a further redevelopment plan for a new bus station was revealed. In 2020,

Yellow Buses Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the R ...

stopped using the bus station due to the

in the area. As a result,

boarded up the nearby

alley An alley or alleyway is a narrow lane, path, or passageway, often reserved for pedestrians, which usually runs between, behind, or within buildings in the older parts of towns and cities. It is also a rear access or service road ( back lane ...

ways to discourage crime. It is now proposed to permanently close the alleyways. The travel shop was closed during the first half of 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

References

{{Shopping centres in Southwest England Shopping centres in Dorset Buildings and structures in Poole Shopping malls established in 1969 1969 establishments in England