Willenhall shopping centre fully let

Towler Shaw Roberts has successfully attracted a range of new tenants to the Stroud Avenue parade, with all nine commercial units now let.

Just one of the units, which continues to be home to a pharmacy, was trading when the centre's owners appointed TSR as letting agents.

The regeneration of the centre has been successful in attracting fresh businesses.

Martin Zaki, who has handled eight lettings at the centre for TSR, said: “The units were in quite a run down condition when we took on the instruction in November 2018.

“When I visited for the first time with a colleague, we had to crawl under roller shutters that wouldn’t open, and there was rubbish dumped in the units.

“Although some of the other units were occupied at the time, they were not trading and the shutters were down, so surrenders had to be agreed on leases for a couple of units to allow them to be available.

“The first letting we did was in August 2019. We did four more in 2020 and then the last three in 2021, so it is now a fully occupied parade of shops, which is quite a turnaround.”

A letting for the final unit available – Unit 302, which extends in total to approximately 680 sq ft – was agreed just before Christmas to a locksmiths.

It joins a dessert shop, dog groomers, tanning salon, florist, a miscellaneous retail shop, hairdressers and an off licence as businesses attracted to Brackendale Shopping Centre.

Mr Zaki added: "Whilst carrying out viewings we would always receive comments from local residents hoping for the units to be re-occupied.

“To have what was previously a pretty much derelict shopping precinct next to your home cannot have been good for the opinion of the area or the perceived value of the property, so to now have it fully occupied with a mixture of businesses must be a welcome result.

“It has impressed even ourselves that the majority of the lettings have occurred during the pandemic. It was refreshing that when we reached periods where restrictions were starting to be lifted people showed positivity and looked to start something up.”

The two-storey parade features commercial shop units on the ground floor, with residential accommodation above. It also has a customer car parking area with 33 spaces.