Work has begun to restore and renovate the Dewsbury Arcade – preparing it for reopening next year.
The Dewsbury Arcade is a shopping centre, which has been a focal point in Dewsbury town centre since the late 1800s. However, it has now stood empty for more than seven years.
Kirklees Council purchased the building in 2020 – one of the first steps towards its Dewsbury Blueprint – and the regeneration of the arcade became one of the blueprint’s key focuses going forward.
The renovations happening now will enable the arcade to reopen next year as the UK’s first community-run shopping centre, leased and managed by the Arcade Group – a community business formed specifically for this purpose.
Once renovated, the arcade will have 16 small shop units and four larger ones, as well as six upstairs studios which could be used by artists as office spaces or for events.
Together with the Arcade Group, Kirklees Council wants to fill the arcade with independent local traders, along with a new, high quality food and drink offering. These plans will work well with the neighbouring Dewsbury Market – another key focus of the blueprint – and other local traders, by driving more footfall into the town centre.
Kirklees Council also wants to restore and maintain the Grade II Listed building’s historic architecture, future-proofing a piece of Dewsbury’s history whilst bringing the much-loved shopping centre into use.
William Birch & Sons are undertaking the construction work; a Yorkshire-based company who specialise in working with beautiful heritage buildings.
This work is funded by £4.5million from the National Heritage Lottery Fund, grants from the Dewsbury Town Board and West Yorkshire Combined Authority, support from the government’s Getting Building Fund, and capital funding from the council.
Once reopened, the shopping centre will be managed by the Arcade Group without further financial input from the council.
David Shepherd, Strategic Director for Growth & Regeneration, says: “Local people have already shown how important the arcade is in Dewsbury town centre, by supporting the Arcade Group’s endeavours so passionately last year. This makes it even more meaningful to see work starting onsite, knowing we’re bringing a piece of Dewsbury’s history back to life.
“This work also ties in really closely with other big projects in the town centre, like the Dewsbury Market – work should be underway just as the arcade reopens, so both projects will hopefully see a big boost in town centre footfall.
“This is the ethos of our blueprint as a whole – it’s called a ‘blueprint’ because it’s bigger than any one project, and over the next few years all of this work will come together to create a town centre where businesses and local traders can really thrive in the twenty-first century.”
Keith Ramsay, Chair of Dewsbury Town Board, says: “This is a big milestone for us all. We know how much local people want to see the arcade restored to its former glory, and now that work is onsite I’m hugely excited to see it reclaim its place at the heart of our town centre once more. This beautiful building deserves to welcome people through its doors once more, and people from Dewsbury and beyond deserve to enjoy it again.
“This is the latest in a long stream of fantastic news about the Dewsbury Blueprint over the last few months, and it definitely won’t be the last. I’m very excited about what the future holds.”
Chris Hill, Co-Founder of the Arcade Group, says: “It’s great to see the promises become reality. Raising the money to deal with the arcade’s structural decline has been a tough journey, but our community business can now move on to the next stage – finding the tenants people want to see in the arcade and working to pull businesses and shoppers back to the town centre. This is a challenge we’re determined to meet.”
Gemma Shahjahan, Business Development Director for William Birch & Sons Ltd., says: “We are delighted to be working with Kirklees Council on this treasured building in Dewsbury. The plans in bringing the arcade back to life are really exciting, and our teams are really looking forward to being part of that journey in what is a special year for our business – celebrating 150 years.
“Our bid for the project made commitments around delivering a suite of great local employment, training and skills benefits, and we are now formulating the plan for delivering this with our teams over the coming months.”
