It's opening delayed by a corruption scandal, sold off by the council, targeted by rioters, bought and sold by three different owners and facing fears of a slow death of the High Street - Salford Shopping Centre has not had it easy.
But 'The Precinct' as some locals call it has been described as the heart of Salford and not only has it survived - it is about to turn 50 this year - and is now gearing up to celebrate Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee on Thursday June 2.
Face painting kicks off proceedings at 11am, there will be a roaming balloon-ologist creating crowns, along with balloon corgis as a nod to the Queen’s faithful canine friends. During the day of jubilation, visitors should keep an eye out for magical flower fairies roaming the shopping centre handing out special Jubilee themed sweet treats before the day finishes at 4pm.
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Queen Elizabeth II was only 25 when she was crowned on June 2, 1953, at London's Westminster Abbey, following the death of her father George VI and has since gone on to be one of the world’s most adored monarchs. The Platinum Jubilee weekend will be celebrated the length and breadth of the country and around the world.
Salford Shopping Centre Manager, Nick Pitt, said: “A lot of us will be enjoying a four day weekend as part of the Jubilee Celebrations and of course we couldn’t let the occasion go by without a little celebration of our own for the community of Salford.
"We have already decked out the centre with hundreds of metres of Jubilee bunting and would love to see as many of you as possible, familiar faces and new ones, to really ensure we celebrate this historic moment in style.”
The shopping centre has also introduced the first ever artist in residence, local Salford artist Chelsea Entwistle to celebrate it's own anniversary this summer. The team behind Salford Shopping Centre have planned a series of events involving Chelsea, with the aim to involve the local community and mark the stalwart’s 50th year.
To acknowledge the heritage of the shopping centre amongst the local area, Salford Shopping Centre have commissioned the artist, to create a major piece of work to mark the event. The commission - which is due to be revealed in July - will sit in the middle of the shopping centre and will be honouring the anniversary and standing as a visual representation of the local area.
The origin of the shopping centre dates back to 1957, when plans for the Ellor Street Development Plan were announced by the council. The scheme was approved in 1962 and the cost was estimated to be £5.25m – the equivalent of £113.6m today.
In May 1970 the market opened, and in 1971 some shops opened on the precinct. But the building work was interrupted due to a lack of funds and a political scandal. The chairman of the Ellor Street Development, Councillor Albert Jones, was jailed for a year for corruption because of his involvement in a planning application, and he served eight months in prison.
In 2007, the year he died, Albert published a book, Dock to Dock and described how in May 1964 the planning committee approved an application from a housing association to build in the Claremont Road area. Residents were concerned about losing a belt of mature trees and so as chairman of the committee he visited the site.
He managed to temporarily stop the development, but one of the developers turned up to the site meeting and confronted him. In September of the same year he met one of the developers in the car park at the Woolpack Hotel, in Salford, in what he subsequently says he believed was a set-up operation.
Within minutes of getting into the man’s car, the door was being opened by a policeman and £200 in cash was found near where he had been sat. He was charged with corruption and sentenced at Manchester Crown Court on January 12, 1965.
The hotel and multi-storey car park were never built at the shopping centre, and only 95 units were created. In 1991 it had a £4m refurbishment but in 1994 the Manchester Evening News reported council plans to sell Salford Shopping City, to raise money for local housing repairs. In 2000 it was sold to a private company for £10m and then later sold in March 2010 to Praxis Holdings for £40m.
In August 2011 the shopping centre was targeted by looters and rioters as part of large scale unrest and rioting in England with poor relations with the council and the police, and high poverty rates in the area suggested to be the reason. The centre was also hit by conflict the previous year when Salford council gave planning permission for a new a new £45m Tesco superstore to be built on land opposite which meant the demolition of St James’ RC Primary and the Emanuel Church.
The owners of Salford Shopping City launched a judicial review saying traders could not compete with a huge Tesco, and 8000 local traders and residents signed a petition opposing the plans. But despite this it went ahead, opening in 2012. Despite so much adversity and controversy - ten years on the centre is still standing, surviving - and celebrating.
