Brewdog is the latest operator to sign up for new space at Basingstoke’s Festival Place. The Scottish brewery and pub operator has signed a 15-year lease on 4,883 sq. ft and is targeting an opening date towards the end of March.
This follows the recent arrival of Five Guys and is indicative of Festival Place’s strategic leasing policy, with a renewed emphasis the food and beverage (F&B) provision to complement the traditional retail offer.
Russell Jewell, Head of Private Equity Funds at AEW, said: “The arrival of a flagship brand like Brewdog is a strong endorsement of Festival Place’s evolving F&B offer and will be a welcome addition to our varied roster of operators in that category.”
Festival Place (Basingstoke) reported positive trading performances for 2021, with more than 20 new leases/lease renewals agreed, reflecting its continued resilience and relevance as a key retail and leisure destination.
In January 2022, F&B performed strongly within Festival Place with fast food reporting an uplift in revenue of +18.5% vs. 2019 and many operators seeing double-digit growth.
Having launched in October 2002, Festival Place was acquired by AEW in 2015 and is the highest ranked shopping centre outside a major UK city. It is listed in the top 25 of the latest Global Data’s UK shopping centres report and sits within Trevor Wood Associates’ Premier League of shopping centres. The 1.1 million sq. ft retail and leisure destination features retail, dining and leisure brands such as Apple, Next, SuperDry, TKMaxx, Pandora, Jack Wills, JD Sports and Fat Face alongside amenities including a Sports Centre with swimming pool and gym, a 10-screen Vue Cinema, a Flip Out trampoline park, Escape and indoor entertainment experience plus office space and a library.
Joint agents for Festival Place are Lunson Mitchenall and Cushman & Wakefield. CBRE is the managing agent for the centre.
