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After more than four years, Highcross, a shopping mall tipped to revitalise the centre of Leicester is nearing completion, and will open on Thursday September 4.

Finishing touches are being made to stores, and the complex also includes a late-night restaurant district, including restaurant chain Wagamama.

Research by the British Council of Shopping Centres (BCSC) shows £5.3 billion was spent on UK shopping malls in 2007, more than double the figure in 2000. Some 5.2m sq ft of new town-centre retail floorspace is planned every year from 2009 to 2012.

And the economic downturn - the CBI reported that the high street had it’s weakest trading in 25 years in August - has failed to stem the excitement about Highcross. More than 1000 people paid a visit when the development opened its doors for four hours in June.

For Leicester, Highcross is firm evidence of a £3 billion urban-regeneration scheme which includes a science and technology park, performing-arts centre and housing. The aim is to pull in shoppers from Nottingham and Peterborough, and push Leicester in to the top 10 of shopping malls.

Developer Hammerson has two further malls opening in Paris and Bristol next month and believes that Highcross will draw in shoppers from Nottingham and Peterborough, pushing Leicester into the top 10 of British shopping destinations.

Costing £350m and creating 2,000 new retail and leisure jobs, Highcross will incorporate The Shires, a town-centre development that opened in 1991

Article by Caroline

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