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Tom re-elected as Lib Dems make gains
Graham reports back from Friends of Scholes Park meeting
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Redrock cinema complex opens in Stockport
by Lib Dem team on 24 November, 2017
Stockport’s new Redrock cinema complex opened this week. The Light have opened a ten screen cinema. There are a range of restaurants either open already or coming soon include Zizzi, Pizza Express, Gourmet Burger Company and Loungers. A gym opens in January and the new car park – accessible directly from the A6 for the first time – is open for business too.
Iain said “Redrock is a great addition to Stockport, putting the cinema and restaurants right in the heart of the town for the first time. A new public square connects them to Merseyway and through there to the Old Town. The Light is different kind of cinema – plush, reclining seats are just part of the offer.”
Redrock, which has all-party support at the Council, isn’t costing taxpayers any money. It’s an investment in the town which is expected to either break even or deliver a profit to council taxpayers. The old Cineworld cinema near the station will soon be demolished and replaced with Grade A offices, adding to the successful Stockport Exchange development.
“People have told me that they never used to come into Stockport. Twenty or thirty years ago it was too scary and there wasn’t much to do. That’s changing now. People are coming in for the new restaurants and for Foodie Friday. The hotels are full, new restaurants are opening and Stockport is changing. I’m very proud of what the Lib Dems have done to improve Stockport over the last few years. There’s more to do, but we’re making good progress.” said Iain.
Is the car parking free?
I haven’t spoken to anybody yet who doesn’t think it’s a total eyesore. The reality is that Stockport, and I don’t know enough about the council employees and councillors to know which is the tail and which the dog, are failing to develop the town to its best advantage. Red Rock doesn’t address the many, many empty buildings in the town, which continue to blight it. What should have happened is that the town should have been developed organically, building by building, so that we ended up with a completely inhabited town centre. There are many empty buildings that would have accommodated the new restaurants and we already had a cinema at Grand Central. New offices? Still leaving empty buildings! The council or whomever, were seduced by the developers and all we ended up with is a regenerated car park.
Car parking free in Stockport? I don’t think so!
I couldn’t agree more with Alan. There are numerous empty buildings which could have been recycled.
Also, which planners allowed such an eyesore to be built? It doesn’t blend in with any of the surrounding buildings or ‘Red Rock ‘ itself. Why couldn’t some of the empty buildings in Stockport be converted into flats? We are always being told that there is a housing shortage. Crazy, crazy.
Jennifer – if one has to pay to park at this new complex then I would go to Didsbury any time. No brainer.
I agree, if there is a charge to park the car, I’m heading on to Didsbury or the Trafford centre for my film fix.
This applies to the shopping experience too, nice as a Pizza Express or Zizzi can be, there are a plethora of these outlets elsewhere and the need to pay parking fees does not exist elsewhere. Moreover, the problem in my experience is Stockport is the chance to of being treated like a criminal by the parking wardens is very acute, I can have a Pizza express in Poynton, Cheadle, Macclesfield, Didsbury, Trafford Centre without the feeling I’m to be fleeced.
The offer in Stockport will have to be a lot more to make people want to pay a premium to visit. I was told by a council official that the council receives million pound revenues from parking but it costs over £700k in wages alone to run that department let alone other costs.
Parking for the cinema is free – as is all parking after 6pm across Stockport.
(And yes, it costs money to run and maintain car parks – the only question is who pays: taxpayer, retailer or user).
Hi Alan – there are many buildings that can be kept and repurposed. There are others that cannot. You can’t convert an old mill or cinema into Grade A offices. Happy to go through this in more detail, as over the years I’ve looked at pretty much every building one-by-one!
Ian, You mentioned ‘Foodie Friday’ as being part of the success story, yet the good people behind it who are from Seven Miles Out had a very solid case for what should be done with the Produce Hall, only for it to be turned down.
So, they are great for Foodie Friday but no good for anything else?
They are, in fact, highly in touch with the people to a far, far greater extent than the decision makers are.
Hi Leigh, although I was involved at the time Foodie Friday was set up and also when the Seven Miles Out team took it over, I’ve had no involvement at all in Labour’s decision over the Produce Hall and didn’t find out until it was in the media, so I’m afraid I can’t really comment on the rights and wrongs of that one.
Iain I’m not suggesting there’s an easy solution but as a trader in the old town, we feel that the bigger the vibe there, the more successful Stockport will be – and look. Grade A offices possibly not but many of the older buildings will accommodate apartments or solo traders like ourselves. More residents mean more council tax for the council and more revenue opportunities for traders.
Alan – although not old buildings will be viable to convert to new uses, we should do what we can. In particular, housing is important, and we should be looking to get more people living in the town centre.
Three good reasons for that:
1. Evidence from around the world is that urban regeneration works much better when it includes getting more people to live in the urban centres.
2. More homes in the centre of Stockport means fewer homes on the Green Belt.
3. People who live in a dense, urban centre are more likely to use public transport and local services, boosting Stockport town centre and reducing pollution.
Getting that mix right isn’t easy – there are mills the Council has been trying for years to get converted to residential but no-one has been able to make the numbers stack up. It needs to be done though.
Iain has a fair point in respect of old buildings. Sometimes they are at the end of their economic lives and should be demolished and make way for new developments that will offer accommodation (residential or commenrcial) as necessary. I think that with major new developments such as Redrock, there will be a bedding in period. My concern with parking is that the latest payment technology is available – coins, notes, cards, apps etc. As I have said on is ‘blog’ before, I don’t use the Peel Centre in stockport because of the parking charge regime ( may be its changed?). I’m looking forward to visiting Redrock and giving it a try.
I took a look at Red rock today, it looks a real missed opportunity.
The build itself looks cheap although most leisurepark cinemas are big sheds and this is similar. The issue is it’s no different to any other leisure development and the people that it’s aimed at will still look at other similar leisure complexes and conclude that it’s easier and cheaper to park Didsbury.
The road Princes street looks cleaner and I wonder if some restaurant owners may take the plunge with the cheaper old shops.
The next stage must be to address Mersey way, perhaps open the river up, remove the 1950’s pedestrian deck and
make the centre a riverside contrast of old on the south side and new on the North.
Grade A offices are a misnomer, people work from home now, the demand for offices has fallen off a cliff
On the offices front, the opposite is actually true. Home-working is declining and the demand for high quality offices is growing. I was at a conference in Manchester speaking to people about this just last week.
I think it very much depends on the conference you were at, property developers and construction companies are not going to announce that office space is no longer in demand.
A look round any city tells you the situation, Manchester is awash with empty offices where the landlord has shelled out for a Googlesque refurb for reception which houses a very board looking security guy to service tenants that have taken up 5% of the floorspace. The problem is far more acute in Stockport where offices are often empty or at best seem to filled by the token public sector agency. In my experience cost, physical connectivity, location and free parking take precedence over everything.
The answer is to allow developers to convert to residential and let the market decide, it will solve the perceived housing problems too and as long as the town isn’t awash with social housing, it will provide retainers with better trading conditions.
High quality office space is in high demand across south Manchester. As for converting to residential, developers are allowed to do that and always have been. They don’t even need planning permission these days – they can just do it.
Does the building of the new offices planned for the area next to the station mean that lamentable Beckwith House and Regent House can now be demolished, no longer to blight the town centre ?
You’d have to speak to their owners Tony – but as Regent House is now home to a successful Travelodge and some very nice offices, I’d say it’s unlikely.