Food and drink outlet plans to open in Priory Meadow shopping centre

The business, which has not yet been publicly revealed, will open in the unit formerly occupied by Topshop.

The news comes a month after Burger King announced it no longer had plans to open a restaurant in that unit.

Two days ago, Stuart Mitchell, the director for the Southern portfolio at New River, Priory Meadow’s owner, also confirmed they were in discussions with a national gym operator to open above the current New Look store.

He laid out the plans for the gym and the food and drink outlet during an interview with the Hastings Observer.

Mr Mitchell said: “As well as the recent upsizes of JD Sports and Grapetree, we are pleased to confirm that we are soon to introduce a new national gym operator as well as a new food and beverage leisure offer.

“More details of which we look forward to sharing in the spring.”

Mr Mitchell said Burger King’s decision to pull out of Priory Meadow was due to the fast food outlet prioritising out-of-town drive-thrus instead of town centre restaurants.

The national gym operator, which has not yet been publicly named, is said to be in the final stages of talks with New River. Mr Mitchell said he hoped the contracts would be signed in the ‘next few weeks’.

He added: “Priory Meadow is a thriving community shopping centre that continues to serve the Hastings catchment well.

“Notwithstanding the challenging economic and political headwinds, and the growth of online, Priory Meadows continues to play an important role to the Hastings community.

“Today in the UK, £8 in every £10 spent on retail is still transacted through a physical store. And Priory Meadow is a brilliant example of this – footfall remains strong, outperforming the national benchmark, our average basket spend is £30, and the centre is well let.
“Over the past few months we have undertaken a number of lettings and upsizes that testify how popular the centre is to our shoppers and our retailers.”