More than 30 shops empty in Festival Place Basingstoke

Basingstoke's flagship shopping centre, once the envy of many towns in the south-east, currently has 30 empty units - with one strip on the upper level almost completely vacant.

Following the recent shock closure of Festival Street Kitchen after only five months in its new location inside the shopping centre, the Gazette visited Festival Place to tally up just how many shops are permanently closed with their units empty and boarded up.

A staggering 31 units were found to be vacant.

READ MORE: Shocking! Festival Place restaurant to close venue after 5 months due to dispute

Various empty and boarded-up units in Festival Place (Image: Newsquest)

The most notably empty portion of the shopping centre is the strip of shops on the upper tier between Next and the former Debenhams unit.

A large number of units which were previously occupied by businesses including Jack & Jones, Paperchase, USC and Skechers have been left empty, with some of them being vacant for years.

While some of these businesses moved to different locations in the shopping centre, the units which they occupied are yet to be filled and many remain boarded up.

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More of the empty units including the ill-fated Debenhams (Image: Newsquest)

Elsewhere in the shopping centre, the likes of Supercuts, Thorntons and Fabric Land remain closed, the latter two having been boarded up for some time.

Earlier in the year, Festival Place celebrated a 'mini-revival' following the opening of multiple new businesses including Danish homeware giant Sostrene Grene and nail salon Aimy Beauty.

Now, Festival Place has promised that "very exciting announcements" regarding the upper level of the shopping centre will be shared in the near future.

A spokesperson for Festival Place told the Gazette: "At FP we’re proud of the varied range of shops and experiences that we offer as a place to shop and spend leisure time, as well as our place at the heart of the Basingstoke community.

"FP is constantly evolving and we’re pleased to have welcomed many new names this year, including Søstrene Grene, Slim Chickens and Boswells.

"We are looking forward to a busy run-up to Christmas and will have very exciting announcements about the upper level to share soon – watch this space."