Spinners to open Touchwood’s first competitive socialising venue
Spinners is set to open the first competitive socialising venue at Solihull’s Touchwood, bringing crazy golf, interactive darts, shuffleboard, and electronic clay shooting to the shopping centre.
The operator has signed a 15-year lease for a 5,852 sq ft unit located within the scheme’s dining and leisure-focused upper mall area. To meet Spinners’ requirements, the unit was extended through the conversion of an adjacent balcony and mall area.
Spinners at Touchwood will become the operator’s third location, following existing venues in Plymouth and Reading.
Jamie Bylett, director at Spinners, said the West Midlands has “long been a target location” for the operator.
The latest letting strengthens Touchwood’s retail and leisure line-up, with the scheme now 99% let. Spinners complements a dining offer that includes high street names such as Nandos, Wagamama, and The Real Greek, as well as independents such as Yakinori Japanese Kitchen, Latin American streetfood specialist Tio Latino, and the Jamaican-inspired Jamaya.
Notable additions to Touchwood’s retail line-up over the past year include Mango, Levi Strauss & Co, Mint Velvet and Rituals, which joined existing blue-chip names such as Apple, John Lewis and Zara.
Following its acquisition of Touchwood three years ago, owner The Ardent Companies and asset manager Sovereign Centros from CBRE have looked to implement a strategy focused on strengthening and diversifying the scheme’s tenant mix and offer. In that period, Touchwood has seen improvements in occupancy rate, footfall and trading performance.
Andrew Hilston, managing director at The Ardent Companies, said: “Spinners’ arrival is a key part of our efforts to further expand the range of leisure options at Touchwood, and its competitive socialising concept is a fantastic addition to the line-up here. Over the past three years we have strived to give visitors to Touchwood the widest possible choice of both retail and leisure operators, and it is fantastic to see that approach pay such dividends through both increased footfall and strong trading performances throughout.”
Simon Phipps, senior director at Sovereign Centros from CBRE, added: “Competitive socialising and dining options are key elements of any destination’s offer, and Spinners’ choice of Touchwood as the latest location for its growing brand reflects the scheme’s strong trading performance and sizeable, affluent catchment. With occupancy now at 99%, the brands and leisure options we’ve brought to Touchwood give people a huge range of compelling reasons to visit.”
Sovereign Centros from CBRE is the asset manager of Touchwood, whilst Cushman & Wakefield and Knight Frank are the retained leasing agents.