November 2023
Independent operator, Centre VR has taken 8,000 sq ft in the Palace Shopping Centre, Enfield.
The virtual reality business, incorporating escape rooms, is run by husband-and-wife team Robert and Dominique Dorman and opened in July in the former Topshop site. Palace Shopping Centre is home to Palace Exchange and Palace Gardens, whose tenants include Marks & Spencer, Next, Waitrose, Boots and Pearsons department store.
Duncan Kite, managing partner, GCW, said: “Our client, and strategic asset advisor RivingtonHark, are supporting investment in local community businesses, and giving them a chance to trade in a prime location, which they might not have had under different circumstances. This is one of several successful meanwhile arrangements that we’ve put in place over the last 18 months.”
Palace Exchange was opened in 2006 and is adjacent to the 41-year-old Palace Gardens that is now set to get a refurbishment commencing with the Waitrose covered mall, entrance, and toilet facilities this year and new paving and planting in the external areas to compliment the newer adjoining scheme. The first phase will be completed this year with the external works following in 2024.
Kite said: “We have some longer-term plans to remodel parts of the centre. The aspiration is to deliver an evening economy with more leisure, food & beverage, which is largely absent from Enfield town centre currently.
This will make a huge difference to the appeal of the town centre and help it compete with other locations vying for Enfield’s considerable consumer spend.”