Five new stores announced at Leeds retail park The Springs

Mobile network operator EE, and gifts and arts and crafts store The Works have opened at retail and entertainment destination at Thorpe Park.

Shoe Zone has opened its new concept store next door to Card Factory and JD Sports and designer furniture store Lola Rose Interiors has also committed to its first ‘high street’ launch.

And coffee house brand Caffe Nero is set to open by the end of the year.

Other brands who have made The Springs home include H&M, Nando’s, M&S, Next, TK Maxx, Outfit, Fat Face, JD Sports, Mountain Warehouse, Boots, and Pure Gym. The retail park was also chosen by ODEON LUXE for its first Dolby Cinema concept outside of London, heralded by Forbes as the best cinema experience in the UK.

Simon Marshall, joint chief executive of Scarborough International Properties, said: “It is great to see continued interest from such well-known brands but equally encouraging that the scheme is a viable trading option for local operators.

"We had always set out to bring a strong blend of options for visitors to The Springs and to reach 83% occupancy in our first year since launch is quite an achievement in an otherwise challenging marketplace.”

Hannah Tomlinson, head of store marketing at Shoe Zone, said the retailer was excited to open its 40th branded store at The Springs.

"This is our 22nd big box store opening this financial year, which is a great achievement for Shoe Zone, taking our total number of stores in the UK to 502. We hope that our customers like what’s on offer and we look forward to welcoming them into our new store.”

Phase two for Thorpe Park Leeds include 300 new residential homes by Redrow and an 113-acre public park with sports facilities.

It has already delivered the first section of the ‘East Leeds Orbital Road’, a key piece of infrastructure connecting north and east Leeds to Junction 46 of the M1. This road will unlock land for the construction of up to 7,000 new homes in the East Leeds area, land that is either already allocated in the Local Plan or which is ‘brownfield’ land.

The award-winning development has dedicated access to Junction 46 of the M1 and has been chosen for the new railway station, ‘East Leeds Parkway’ and associated Park and Ride, connecting Thorpe Park Leeds directly to Leeds city centre in eight minutes. This forms part of a £270 million infrastructure investment into Leeds by the Department of Transport.