A shopping center is called the worst of Great Britain finally closed after losing more than 40 stores.
The Festival Park Festival in Ebbw Vale, South Wales, was opened in 1992 for a lot of excitement, with Prince Charles, Dannie Minogue and Catherine Zeta-Jones are all present.
It was in the heart of the government's national garden festivals and would welcome thousands of shoppers who wanted to see his 'beautiful' flower gardens and shops.
But over the years the festival park, which was built with taxpayers money, suffered money, such a grim decline that it became known as a 'ghost city' considered the worst in the country.
Recently it was covered with rows of empty stores after a large number of points of sale, including M&S, Nike, Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Costa and Gap Shut Up Shop.
In fact, the struggles of the center became so serious that it ultimately lagged behind with only one solitary sport direct chain after independent shop owners have also moved in a malaise shops.
The center will now be transformed into an industrial park by owners of Birmingham, Mercia Real Estate Ltd, who have rebuilt the site they bought in 2021.
But despite the grim decline of the Festivalpark, which was once central to the Government National Garden Festivals, Shoppers and former Winkel owners have said that they are 'bitter disappointed' to see it going.
The festival park in Ebbw Vale, Wales, saw such a decline that more than 40 stores left their buildings both independently and nationally
The shopping center was described as a 'ghost city' that could be helped by a 'zombie apocalypse'
As it approached its end, the shopping center was the home of just one lonely store – a direct chain of Sports (photo)
When the center officially closed the center a little more than a year ago, Shopper Megan Woods, 59, said: 'It was great when (when it opened) – long queues to come in and a real buzz. It had its own fair and even a talking moving clock. But now it looks more like a zombie country with anyone here.
'Something went wrong somewhere that all that investment of taxpayers money was wasted. It became bad for the pandemic, but now it's just ridiculous. '
Kim Maguire, owner of the store, who moved the center to the local main street, described the closure as a 'sad day'.
“However, I still regularly hear from customers about how much they miss the festival park, and how shocked they are all about what has happened in recent years,” she said.
'It still feels pretty surreal to be honest, even now for a year along the line.
'It was a sad day when it closed for me as a company and for the community as a whole. Everyone who worked there also misses, although we are now in a larger store to the center of the city. '
The center was opened in 1992 for a lot of excitement with Prince Charles, Dannii Minogue and Catherine Zeta-Jones present
Shop owner Kim Maguire, who moved from the center to the local Hoofdstraat, described the closure as a 'sad day'
The owners of the site, established in Birmingham, Mercia Real Estate, are turning it into a new business center
The new center is planned to be 39 industrial locations for commercial law and storage purposes
Other locals have described the shopping center as 'as a ghost city' in recent years.
Developers hope that the future of the Park festival will be bright, with a new business center on the site to live 39 industrial units for commercial law and storage purposes.
There are also plans for a gym operator and a daycare center for the occupiers of the units and residents in the area.
After getting a building permit last year to start change, Mercia Real Estate Global Property Consultancy Company Frank Knight appointed to attract tenants to the new industrial park.
Neil Francis, head of the industrial and logistics division of Knight Frank in Wales, said: “The imaginative redevelopment of the festival park location, in combination with a willingness by the owners to agree with leases within a few weeks, will be an attractive proposition for local and national companies.”
Samuel Clark, Chief Executive Officer of Mercia Real Estate, said: 'We are convinced that the much -needed redevelopment of the festival park will be an attractive proposition for new and existing companies, and will offer a series of unit sizes to be able to find the site to find the site in the course of the site.
However, the festival park is not the only British shopping center that has gone to a dramatic decline.
Riverside Shopping Center in Eesham is another grim memory of the struggles of the British retail trade
Described as a 'disaster', the not -used shopping center is covered with nest, discarded condoms and is almost completely empty
Imagine the scene: it is four days to Christmas and the six -storey parking lot in Eveham's Riverside Shopping Center is abandoned
Evesham's Riverside Shopping Center is a good example of such a decline – so much so that only six days before Christmas last year the parking space of six floors was completely empty.
Described as a 'disaster', the not -used shopping center is covered with nest, discarded condoms and is almost completely empty.
A local Sherrin Annis, 76, said: “I lived in Eesham for 72 years,” she said, “and it's very, very sad. This place is an absolute disaster.
'You can't even use the toilets anymore. They locked them up. It is a shame for the city. '
Of more than 40 units in the middle, only three are open.
