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This is the first image of what the Rose Street Car Park could look like when it is regenerated
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Traders asked to shape town centre future

By Laura Herbert
February 04, 2013

This stunning image reveals the town planners’ vision for Rose Street car park – and traders are being asked to help shape it further.

It shows a meeting place with open-air café style seating – and to help bring it to life retailers, traders and people living in the area are being urged to join the Town Team and also have their say on how parts of the town centre not undergoing regeneration should look.

The first phase of the town’s multi-million pound regeneration has been given the go-ahead.

But additional work is taking place to focus on the heart of the town.

Wokingham’s newly-formed Town Team aims to give businesses and neighbours a collective voice on how the town centre is managed.

The team is also looking at ways of attracting more people to shop in Wokingham and ideas to improve visitor experience.

Wokingham Borough Council will launch its Public Realm Strategy consultation next month and is calling for people to share their ideas on how public areas in the centre should look.

The Town Team and Public Realm Strategy are both separate from the overall regeneration, but will run alongside the project as it progresses.

The regeneration will see a new foodstore and hotel built in the town centre as well as open spaces and opportunities to extend the market.

Councillor Alistair Corrie, executive member for regeneration and affordable housing, said: “We have known since the adoption of the core strategy in 2010 that we have to deliver more shops and a foodstore in the town so this project has been about addressing how best to integrate this growth into the town centre.

“If the foodstore was to go on a site outside the town centre it would draw people away from the town centre rather than bringing footfall back.

“We already know, both from research and examples in Wokingham, that many people do link trips to a town centre foodstore with other shopping and activities so locating the new store in the centre of town is critical for footfall as well as helping reinforce and extend retail circuits past more of the existing shops.”

Bernie Pich, head of regeneration, added: “We are working carefully designing the scheme to ensure it’s as flexible as possible and we don’t run into the issues found in much of the existing retail space, which is constrained due to the historic fabric of the buildings.

“We have considered the amount of development we are delivering as part of this project to ensure we leave scope for the future and don’t overdevelop the town with these first phases.

“The project only delivers a proportion of the new retail growth required for the town, making sure there is capacity for the rest to be delivered through other redevelopments in the coming years.”

Wokingham is set to grow by more than a third over the next decade.

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While we have shops in Wokingham like Burtons closing not because of a lack of footfall but because the owners wanted to increase the rent by an excessive amount the town doesn't stand a chance.

We need the government to return the rates paid by town centre businesses to council control and then for them to be set at a level that encourages small shops.

There are a number of town centre streets like Broad Street Walk that are crying out to be developed as small shops with flats over. These would encourage the "continental night life" mentioned below.

If we can't encourage shops like butchers to return to the town centre we need other actions like a second day of opening for the farmers market at the weekend.

The council needs a policy that shops like Lidl instead of opening in Molly Millars Lane found a site closer to the town centre. There are numerous other out of town enterprises that could be encouraged back into the town centre with some sensible council planning and incentives.

PoneRana, Wokingham
09/02/2013 at 13:11

Ah yes you're right - I should have known that! I used to look at it every day at uni when coming out from the Chinese buffet ;)

I tend to shop reasonably equally between Waitrose, Tesco and Morrisons. Waitrose always tends to cost a good degree more than the other two - as you say it focuses less on the value goods, and also tends to have far less discounted or multiple buy deals.

alex_f, Wokingham
05/02/2013 at 15:27

alex_f - Leamington has a Sainsburys as an out of town shop only. The in town shop is Tesco. Marlow, Bracknell, Reading and Guildford are Sainsburys. I don't know what Camberley has.

I think that Waitrose could fulfill the needs of any shopper, but some believe it to be too expensive. I don't look at prices enough if I'm honest, but maybe it focuses on premium goods instead of branded, standard or value goods. So you might be right to some extent although I think that's tempered a bit too much by people not giving it a chance and thinking it's only for snobs.

But a "foodstore" can mean anything. Cleaning products are not food groceries and neither is dry cleaning. There won't be too much in a planning permission that can limit what a supermarket sells.

mavdo, Wokingham
05/02/2013 at 14:21

@mavdo - the new supermarket is termed as a 'foodstore' - my hope for this is that it is only limited to food groceries and doesn't expand far beyond this.

I still believe though that Waitrose doesn't fulfill the needs of the majority of families, and certainly the typical demographic of those who will be moving into the north and south Wokingham SDLs. All of the towns mentioned have a Sainsburys in them.

alex_f, Wokingham
05/02/2013 at 12:55

@Stig2 - to play devil's advocate, how would you explain the success of Reading when it has two in-town supermarkets, both Sainsburys that are very busy, or other towns such as Leamington Spa, Marlow, Guildford, Bracknell, Camberley etc etc etc all of which have supermarkets bang in the middle of all the town centre shops? They might not be used for your complete weekly shop, but there are often times that I've used the ones in Reading to pick up things for an evening meal in order to delay going on my weekly shop by a day or two, or to do a mid-week shop as a top-up to my out-of-town visit when I don't have to carry ten bags of shopping very far to my car that is parked for free, or just to pick up some bread and milk.

I think they are useful, as long as their scope is minimised and isn't allowed to creep into the services provided by other town centre shops already in action. However, I think we already have Waitrose in Wokingham. Quite why we need a Sainsburys too is a bit beyond me.

mavdo, Wokingham
05/02/2013 at 12:29

I do not believe that another supermarket in Wkm will increase footfall that benefits the other smaller shops and restaurants. Most people that go to large supermarkets buy their goods and go home. The out of town supermarkets are in a stronger position as they generally have extensive car parking facilities and a vast selection of goods. Under such circumstances, I cannot envisage a situation where I would choose to visit a wkm supermarket. That said.... I do feel that the only way to create additional footfall is the encourage people into the town after 5pm when the shops , coffee bars start to shut. So Well3 has a good point that perhaps trading hours should be later along with additional restaurants and bars to meet additional demand. I too have my doubts about converting the Rose St car park into another shopping precinct when most High Streets are closing them and can't wait to see what Cllr Baker comes up with in terms of parking. Previous proposals have counted the number of parking places all over the town and not necessarily convenient to the market area. In my view, people are unlikely to drive to a town where parking is limited or poorly located. I, like so many on this website, want wkm to be successfull but not at any price.

Stig2, Wokingham
05/02/2013 at 12:20

As mentioned - I've to'ed and fro'ed on the idea of both supermarkets and department stores. I don't think anyone can say what would and wouldn't work with absolute certainty, otherwise our high streets wouldn't be in the mess they are in now. The best we can probably do is to do what mavdo mentions and learn from those towns which work well. The ones which appear to buck the trend have a healthy combination of independents and national brands (higher end ones in the aforementioned towns), even the odd small / independent department store thrown in there (e.g. FACY in Henley).

I agree with PoneRana and Damiano_Tommassi though that I think how Wokingham is and will be for the next few years, a department store is unlikely to help things in more ways than one.

well, well, well - that's actually a great idea. We could potentially end up with a certain buzz in the evenings in the town centre, with people coming home from work dropping into town for a coffee, meeting friends, and making a few purchases at the same time.

alex_f, Wokingham
05/02/2013 at 11:09

Heelas moved out of Wokingham many years ago. It is unlikely that a department store would work now if it didn't at the height of High Street shopping.

PoneRana, Wokingham
04/02/2013 at 23:50

I wonder if the ratio of shops to supermarkets is relevant. Twyford has very fewshops ( non restaurants/takeaways) to supermarkets.

Wokingham has very many shops and apparently no demand.

I hope the experts are right but is there any evidence several big brands will come to Wokingham and pay market rents.

Forget about more shops - lets get more people living in Town Centre, supporting existing shops and encourage a good local night life. This might include some shops changing their opening hours in the summer. Perhaps opening from 11 am - 8pm. Continental Wokingham!!

well, well, well
04/02/2013 at 22:09

Agreed - though they are aiming to make units of that size in The Elms Field development I believe. Youre right we dont have much for window shoppers. My view is it takes a combination of brand names and independents to start to become a destination of some kind, or incredibly strong and unique independents (look for Psyche in Middlesbrough for just how a single independent store can transform the high street for fashion browsing!). If there are a few known brands and some independents, people know they can browse and they are certain to find what they want (e.g. In Topman or River Island) but have some independents where they might find that extra special thing. Hope that makes sense - typing on a train on mini keyboard....!

alex_f, Wokingham
04/02/2013 at 18:29

Distinctly disabled unfriendly - where is the disabled parking? If this is to scale then there is none within easy reach. Come on Wokingham, lets not make it like Reading - make it disabled friendly or you will loose my money.

K Huffmum
04/02/2013 at 18:19

@Alex_f - the extra retail space in Rose Street and that area is welcomed, as long as it isn't just filled with cafes. In order to become a shopping destination of the ilk you described, we need shops that people can come to and browse for things they didn't necessarily come to town for. We don't have much of that. M&S is too small and seems to want to focus more on food, while M&Co is about it when it comes to the rest when Dorothy Perkins/Topman closes. You don't go to Boots to browse unless it is Christmas, you go to buy toothpaste or tampons or whatever - you go in with a specific product to buy. In the same way, you go to card shops to buy a card, to dry cleaners to get your clothes washed, to a bank to sort out your finances etc. These are not shopping destinations, but they are vital to a thirving town centre.

What we need are more shops like there are in those destinations, not just charity shops, cafes and restaurants.

The general size of the units in Wokingham might mean that chains won't generally want to come in, in my opinion. If you can get better choice in a big Topshop in Bracknell, you won't go to one half the size in Wokingham unless you are already there.

Is there something we can learn from Marlow and Henley about the types of shops there, and see if we can attract similar shops in. I note most of those places have in town, small, supermarkets - ones that don't generally offer extra services over and above groceries, like the Sainsburys opposite the Oracle.

mavdo, Wokingham
04/02/2013 at 17:46

I'm glad Rose Street car park is being developed (Not 'regenerated'. Dr. Who gets regenerated.... car parks and green fields do not). What's going to be plonked in the middle of this courtyard? A band stand? Fountain?

Kevin Baker
04/02/2013 at 17:03

@mavdo - very sensible points and arguments as always.

Do you consider though that the additional retail floor space effectively may make it more of a destination? We know it will never rival Reading, Guildford or Camberley - but it can be of the Henley, Godalming or Marlow ilk, which most of us would favour.

alex_f, Wokingham
04/02/2013 at 16:56

Good points, Mavdo, and thankyou to Cllr. Baker for updating us.

I am wondering where new car parking could possibly go, though, given that the number of listed buildings means that so few buildings or areas in Wokingham town centre could be levelled. Errrm.... Well, other than on our green spaces... where else is there?