Loughborough’s Carillon Court has slowly died as more shops close

In Loughborough’s once-thriving Carillon Court shopping centre, ‘where have all the shops gone?’ or “I wish they would keep the stores” seems to be a constant refrain. Although WHSmith, New Look, Boots and Tylers still keep people coming into the centre, Carillon is in the worst shape I can remember.

I counted 17 empty units – that’s just under half of the entire center – that were either rented or simply the shuttered remains of a former business. The Body Shop, Birds, Grape Tree and The Repair Hub have left Carillon Court in recent months for various reasons.

The numbers don’t do it justice, the mall feels strangely quiet and even run down in places. Speaking to Loughborough residents about what we saw, one went so far as to call it “dirty”.

READ MORE: Businesses have been forced to leave Loughborough shopping centre

Word on the streets of Loughborough is that the owners of the complex want to turn it into student flats; however, no planning application was ever submitted. When asked for comment by LeicestershireLive, they did not respond.

Anne Shelton, 57, from Mountsorrel, said: “Loughborough is not the same. My father used to clean this (Carillon Court) for years. (Now) it is dirty and disgusting.

“I just popped in to get a sandwich and I was like, ‘wow’. This was the busiest precinct.” Denise Dewart, 53, from Loughborough, said: “If it closes and they put in student flats it would be rubbish.

“We don’t need student accommodation, we need shops,” she said. Earlier this year, a number of independent businesses including Oh Pretty Co, Repair Hub and a small card kiosk were forced to leave after being told their leases would not be renewed.

All that remains of them are the dirty and peeling walls.

Ned Royston, 66, a former lorry driver, is “born and bred in Shelthorpe”. “These stores opened and then within a month they closed again,” he said.

He told me he doesn’t come into town often because of the cost of parking. He said: “I’d be charged through the nose, I don’t mind.

“I can’t afford to pay the kind of money they’re asking me for. You get a ticket and half your pension money is wiped out for a week.”

He was resigned to the fact that the center was a dead man walking. “Obviously, these will be gone,” as he motioned to the remaining stores.

“It’s obvious that the people who bought it, it won’t be good for the locals. I remember when this was built, I used to

when I was younger”.

Stuart Morrison, 52, lives in the town and questioned Loughborough’s “selling point”. He said: “It’s like everywhere there’s a patch of land where they’re building student flats.

“Students run this city and without students this place would be in terrible shape.” His partner Tray Morrison, 52, said he had to go out of town for shopping and they had not gone out drinking in Loughborough because “nobody” was in the pubs.

She said it felt “weird”. “I go to Tylers a few times a month, but I can’t remember the last time I went in there (Carillon),” she said.

The center was built in 1971 and opened a year later. It was renovated in 1992 to provide a partially enclosed shopping center that remains today.

Some might argue that he has had time in Loughborough and just doesn’t attract the same pace as he once did. But it’s really a shame to see how it was left to slowly die.

Business owners have wondered if WHSmith and New Look could be the next to leave. This has never been confirmed by any company.

While a one-size-fits-all plan for student apartments may make financial sense, there are risks in alienating buyers of different age groups by not offering the city much more than the “charity shops and vape shops” that many people I think it’s too much. off the main street in Loughborough.

Clearly, there is no silver bullet to secure the Carillon’s future for generations to come, but take a look at the new plan for the old Beacon Bingo and see how it has the potential to re-energize the derelict building. A possible redevelopment for Carillon should take inspiration from this.

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