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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Chantry Place

Chantry Place, formerly Intu Chapelfield and before that Chapelfield, is a shopping centre in Norwich city centre, on a site previously occupied by the Caleys (later Rowntree Mackintosh and Nestlé) chocolate factory.

As Chapelfield, the centre opened in 2005. It adopted Intu branding in 2013 following the renaming of its parent Capital Shopping Centres to become Intu Properties in line with most of the company's centres. Intu entered administration in June 2020 and Chapelfield transferred to new ownership in October that year, being renamed Chantry Place.

History

The centre opened on Wednesday 21st September 2005, featuring a new three-floor flagship House of Fraser department store. It was claimed to be the largest shopping centre to open in Britain in 2005, with 80 shops and 17 cafés and restaurants.

Like many new retail developments, Chapelfield opened amid fanfare and local controversy, with a feeling in some quarters that the development brought little real value to the city centre, but instead was turning Norwich into another clone city, with another shopping centre already open in the city centre, Castle Mall (now renamed Castle Quarter).

Criticism was levelled at the new development that the 'new' shops are mostly stores that have re-located from elsewhere in the city centre. The developers responded, however, that 50 per cent of the stores were 'completely new to Norwich' including the only House of Fraser store in the region.

The centre was rebranded as "intu Chapelfield" in 2013 following the renaming of parent Capital Shopping Centres Group plc as "intu properties plc".

Intu Properties plc entered administration on 20 June 2020, and the centre transferred to new operators LaSalle Investment Management in October that year, managed by Savills. It received the new name of Chantry Place on 20 October 2020.

Seventeen bodies believed to be Jewish were found in 2004 by workers preparing the site. The remains dating from 1150 to 1300 were buried at the city's Earlham Road Cemetery.

Awards

The British Council of Shopping Centres awarded the centre its Gold Award for best In-Town Retail Scheme in 2006.

Stores

Keystone stores in the centre include Frasers, Apple Store, Hollister Co. and H&M.

The centre's third floor, known as The Dining Terrace, comprises restaurants and cafes, including McDonald's, KFC and Subway.

References

  1. ^ "Norwich.forum". norwich.angle. Retrieved 6 June 2006.
  2. ^ "Sense of Place". BBC.co.uk. 21 September 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2006.
  3. ^ "Chapelfield Home". Chapelfields Shopping Centre Norwich, Norfolk. Retrieved 7 June 2006.
  4. ^ "The connected consumer – the future of shopping centres" (PDF) (Press release). Capital Shopping Centres Group. 17 January 2013. p. 11. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  5. ^ "Notice - KPMG administration | intu". Archived from the original on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  6. ^ Culot, Caroline (20 October 2020). "Chapelfield shopping centre officially given new name". Eastern Daily Press.
  7. ^ Tom Bristow (19 March 2013). "Bodies believed to be Jews murdered in medieval Norwich after 800 years". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Chapelfield Norwich wins BCSC Gold Award". 7 December 2006. Archived from the original on 26 June 2007. Retrieved 13 May 2007.