Cornmill Shopping Centre 3.03

Cornmill Shopping Centre is a shopping centre located on Priestgate in central Darlington, England. It is the main shopping centre in the town, with over 40 shops, including Primark, Next, HMV, Waterstone's, W H Smith, Topshop and Tesco Express. The centre is set over two levels and covers over 220,000 square feet. It also has a multi-storey car park with a 400 car capacity.Food outlets include a number of independent traders, as well as Burger King, Costa Coffee and Greggs.SiteThe main centre comprises 58 retail units utilising a bridge link over Priestgate, creating one continuous mall at lower ground level and an additional lower ground retail floor. The property is freehold. It receives a weekly footfall of 125,000 people. Next pay an annual rent of £325,000 for their 22,000 square foot store.HistoryBuilding work began in 1989 following the demolition of existing buildings including the Pied Piper public house and the Co-operative store. One of the key phases of the building work for the two-tier mall was the pedestrian walkway over Priestgate. The centre's name was chosen in a competition by Durham student, Richard Blair. The Cornmill opened on 27 August 1992.