John Lewis hopes for Hove development dashed

1:10pm Monday 15th October 2012 in News

Plans for the “nation’s favourite retailer” to open a new store in Hove appear to have fallen through.

The Argus revealed on Saturday developers behind the new £100 million proposed scheme near Hove Station hoped John Lewis could be part of the plan.

Meetings in the city held as recently as Friday were mentioning the national retailer as part of the plan.

However, hours after The Argus went to print, Matsim Properties, the firm behind the proposal, put a statement on its website saying John Lewis would not be occupying any part of its site, known as Hove Square.

Craig Ritchie of Matsim Properties, said: “Moving towards a full planning application on our site is an incredibly complicated jigsaw puzzle with some juggling thrown in. We have not agreed any deals with any occupiers but we have strong ideas on the mix of uses and the quantum of uses.

“We are however talking to many operators for the cinema, the retail and the offices and the restaurants. We have had numerous meetings with potential occupiers.

“John Lewis is a well known retailer who is keen to be represented in Brighton and Hove. Our most recent correspondence from them was late on Friday when they said they did not want to pursue further discussions with us in relation to this site for the time being.

“This could well be that they, at the moment, prefer another site in the city but we are not privy to their discussions.”

The developer has been working for three years to secure a six-hectare plot which includes Ellen Street, Conway Street and Fonthill Road.

Also included is a footprint for a supermarket, nine-screen cinema, 90,000sq ft of office space for about 1,250 jobs, and about 380 homes in five high-rise blocks up to 22 storeys high.

Any plan is subject to planning permission from Brighton and Hove City Council, but developers are hopeful work could start by early 2014.

Comments(9)

kugs says...
2:34pm Mon 15 Oct 12

This fact was also revealed in the third comment of the previous article - http://www.theargus.
co.uk/news/9984168.J
ohn_Lewis_lined_up_f
or_Hove_Station___10
0m_redevelopment/?re
f=mr .

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ShorehamBeachcomber says...
7:06pm Mon 15 Oct 12

Egg on face, JL pulled out even before they were 'revealed'....oh dear

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bug eye says...
7:33pm Mon 15 Oct 12

the development will only work well if they keep out any tacky retailers and food outlets, a 9 screen cinema will not help, a theatre would be better and art gallery. we have many cinemas in the city already. a quality state of the art development is wanted with small designer and individual shops and a great department store would help. we do not need or want another churchill square with flats, or theme park style squares, more a docklands.

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rolivan says...
8:27pm Mon 15 Oct 12

Now that Hove has joined Brighton in becoming a so called City why is it not possible to have more Trains Starting and Terminating at Hove especially with the proposed development adjacent to the Station this could be incorporated into the plans.

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Dave At Home says...
9:39pm Mon 15 Oct 12

Looks like JL will now go ahead and build their Sussex outlet in Crawley then, will make a better day out and free parking as well. Well done Brighton Council, you cease to amaze me with all the claptrap that goes on in those pokey offices and nothing of any quality comes out.

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davidbrianjones says...
9:54am Tue 16 Oct 12

and of course the i360 Tower at the West Pier is not going to built either is it?

And no one gives a f*** about restoring the West Pier either.

Shame on you all - Brighton is an embarrasement

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Sevencakes says...
10:12am Tue 16 Oct 12

Disappointing but hardly surprising, no doubt it will end up with a super market, five bars and a some fast food outlets. Not so much an attraction as yet another place to find all the usual brands such as McDonalds, KFC, Sainsbury's etc etc.

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saveHOVE says...
12:18pm Tue 16 Oct 12

Go to www.hovesquare.com, choose architects drawings, scroll to the bottom and peer hard at the white writing on that yellow bit and note a 26MB 'full presentation' to load and study.

There are TEN poky restaurant outlets proposed all clustered together at the foot of the steps up to Goldstone Villas and Hove Station by the pub. TEN.

Fast food takeaways for commuters, no question. KFC, pizza chain, coffee chain, burger bars, sandwiches, junk fast food. Use class does not control 'class' of tenant, just types.

Unacceptable to put TEN of them together, side by side, opposite each other in a cluster. Awful.

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FatherTed11 says...
12:53pm Tue 16 Oct 12

saveHOVE wrote:
Go to www.hovesquare.com, choose architects drawings, scroll to the bottom and peer hard at the white writing on that yellow bit and note a 26MB 'full presentation' to load and study.

There are TEN poky restaurant outlets proposed all clustered together at the foot of the steps up to Goldstone Villas and Hove Station by the pub. TEN.

Fast food takeaways for commuters, no question. KFC, pizza chain, coffee chain, burger bars, sandwiches, junk fast food. Use class does not control 'class' of tenant, just types.

Unacceptable to put TEN of them together, side by side, opposite each other in a cluster. Awful.
Not unacceptable. Sounds quite tasty to me.

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