Princes Quay is a

shopping centre A shopping center in American English, shopping centre in English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, spelling differences), shopping complex, shopping arcade, ...

in the heart of Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The centre is unusual in that it is built on stilts over '' Prince's Dock'' after which it is named. It was opened in 1991.

Description

To take advantage of its location the shopping centre is constructed with large windows giving visitors panoramic views of the Hull Marina and the dock. The centre also builds its image on a nautical theme, for example by calling its retail floors ''decks'', although most shoppers still refer to them as floors. The centre, built round a central atrium, opened to the public on 15 March 1991 and consisted of 3 decks of over 80 retail outlets. The centre includes a ''Food Court'' on the lowest deck, known as ''Harbour Deck''. A fourth floor, known as ''Top Deck'', was converted from retail units in 2007 into a 10-screen cinema by

Vue Vue or VUE may refer to: Places * Vue, Loire-Atlantique, a commune in France * The Vue, a skyscraper in Charlotte, North Carolina Arts, entertainment and media * Vue (band), a rock and roll band from San Francisco, California * Vue International, ...

with Europe's first digital screen. A 1,000 place

multi-storey car park A multistorey car park (Commonwealth English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistorey, parking building, parking structure, parkade (Canadian), parking ramp, parking deck, or indoor parking, is a building designed fo ...

is integrated with the centre and is accessed from the main A63 when travelling eastbound into the city. Princes Quay is well served by

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

with many bus routes stopping immediately outside the centre and with

Hull Paragon Interchange Hull Paragon Interchange is a transport interchange providing rail, bus and coach services located in the city centre of Kingston upon Hull, England. The G. T. Andrews-designed station was originally named ''Paragon Station'', and together ...

only a few minutes' walk away. In February 2011 a plan to revamp the food court into several new casual dining restaurants, overlooking the dock commenced and has seen the return of

Pizza Express PizzaExpress (Restaurants) Limited, trading as Pizza Express (also called Pizza Marzano or Milano), is a British multinational pizza restaurant chain. It has over 500 restaurants across the United Kingdom and 100 overseas in Europe, Hong Kong, ...

to the city and has also seen

Nandos Nando's (; ) is a South African multinational fast casual restaurant chain that specialises in Portuguese flame-grilled, peri-peri style chicken. Founded in Johannesburg in 1987, Nando's operates over 1,200 outlets in 30 countries. Their log ...

open a second outlet in the city centre. The restaurants are already proving popular and add to the already increasing vibrancy of Princes Dock Street. Other major restaurant operators such as

Wagamama Wagamama Limited (stylised as ''wagamama)'' is a British restaurant chain. The brand is inspired by fast-paced, Japanese ramen bars and offers a celebration of Asian food. History Wagamama Limited was incorporated on 29 April 1991 as China Di ...

are rumoured to be taking a place in the new food quarter.

Quay West expansion project

In December 2006, outline planning permission was granted for the western expansion of the centre. The £300 million retail development, known as Quay West, would add of shopping space, 60 shops and two department stores. It would also feature cafés and restaurants and a leisure complex comprising a health and sports club as well as a 175-bedroom hotel. The site was earmarked to open in 2011 and it was thought the development would inject an extra £42.66 million per year into the local economy. The project was cancelled in October 2010 due to a change in ownership, the economic downturn and cuts to regeneration projects.

Refurbishment

In August 2015 plans were announced to give the centre a multimillion-pound makeover. By February 2016 plans included the development of up to 28 new outlets on what has been marketed as the Outlet Deck, the ground floor food court was also to receive a facelift. By October 2016

Next NeXT, Inc. (later NeXT Computer, Inc. and NeXT Software, Inc.) was an American technology company headquartered in Redwood City, California that specialized in computer workstations for higher education and business markets, and later develope ...

was announced as the new anchor tenant for the development and that work would be starting with a completion expected for Easter 2017.

Trivia

Since 1991, the Hull International Canoe Polo tournament has been held every July on the waters surrounding the shopping centre. The tournament is organised and run by Kingston Kayak Club; a local club based at Albert Avenue Pools Complex. One of the local teams, 'Humbersiders', have always been prominent and have been crowned champions on three occasions.

References

External links