UK’s biggest outdoors store heads for Morpeth mall

Jan 7 2009 by Dave Black, The Journal

ANOTHER name has been added to the list of high-street retailers signed up to be part of a £32m shopping development in a Northumberland town.

Yeoman’s Outdoors – the UK’s biggest independent camping and outdoors retailer – is the latest operator to agree to take space in the 250-job project in Morpeth.

The Sanderson Arcade development, just off Bridge Street, will result in the creation of a 27-unit, Edwardian-style shopping mall.

It will be anchored by a two-storey Marks & Spencer store and has already attracted other leading names such as New Look, Laura Ashley, Waterstones and O2.

Now Yeoman’s is to take a 1,380sq ft unit in the scheme, which is being delivered by Morpeth II, a development partnership between Dransfield Properties and Ethel Austin Properties. The Chesterfield-based company has opened two other new stores this year on Dransfield-owned developments; one at Market Cross in Selby and the other at St Andrew’s Retail Park in Hull. It started trading in 1904 and now has more than 70 stores nationwide.

Yeoman’s operations director Roger Milner said: “We are currently seeing a great increase in the numbers of people taking camping holidays and we are confident Morpeth will be a great location for our product lines.’’

The Morpeth project will deliver 85,000sq ft of purpose-built retail space, a new town-centre bus interchange and 25,000sq ft of offices.

Dransfield Properties managing director Mark Dransfield added: “Yeoman’s will be a welcome addition to a great tenant line-up for Sanderson Arcade. It is testament to the confidence there is in the town that we only have a few units left to let.’’