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Retail Combined with Leisure: the Future of the Town Centre
In future, the town has an ambition to create its own Bright-
on-style ‘Lanes’ shopping area. ‘The Shops on the Walls’
project aims to support the town’s smaller specialist shops
and businesses and help them rise to the challenge of
online competition.
In addition to its retail offer, there has also been significant
investment in town centre leisure attractions. Following an
extensive £4.2m redevelopment, visitors can now enjoy the
much improved Colchester Castle Museum; the Victorian
Castle Park, the striking £28m Firstsite contemporary art
gallery, Colchester Arts Centre and the Mercury Theatre,
where an £8.8m investment in audience, production and
educational facilities is due to complete in 2020.
Town Centre Performance Dashboard
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Colchester is in the top 2% of towns nationally for shopping
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It’s also in the top 30 for choices of places to eat and drink
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£15m+ is being invested in new/refurbished hotels
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More than £44m is being spent on improving shopping choice
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£32.6m has been spent on improving places to visit
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11 new cafés, bars and restaurants have opened in the last
two years
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41% of town centre retail is provided by independent traders
Lion Yard leading to the Lion Walk shopping centre
which will welcome Primark in 2017.