There’s finally signs of life for the former Debenhams department store at the Trafford Centre, with M&S set to take over.
Marks & Spencer has secured the 135,000 sq ft unit at the huge shopping centre, which has been standing empty since Debenhams crashed into administration in 2021.
The new ‘mega store’ is part of a huge investment to make stores here in the north of England ‘bigger and better’.
It promises to have a brand new M&S cafe, a market-style food hall, and a much larger range of products than at its existing site at the Trafford Centre.
Credit: Marks & Spencer
All the current staff will be transferred to the new larger site when it’s ready to open later this year.
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Simon Layton, regional manager for M&S, said in a statement: “We’re really excited to announce our plans to move to a brand new, bigger, better M&S store in the Trafford Centre.
“The new M&S Trafford Centre store will offer customers a much bigger range of M&S products across a fresh market-style foodhall, a spacious clothing, home and beauty department, and a brand new M&S café.”
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Layton added: “This major investment in Greater Manchester is part of rotating our store estate to make sure we have the right stores in the right locations to offer our customers a brilliant shopping experience.”
As for the Debenhams site in the city centre, that remains empty and appears to steadily be falling into a state of disrepair, with graffiti now covering its walls and windows.
Councillor Pat Karney recently described it as ‘Manchester’s scruffiest building’ and added that it was ‘letting Manchester down’.
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He later added that the council would be speaking to the building’s owners, and said: “These jackasses have let the City down.”
The new M&S site joins other new openings over the last year like GAP, H&M Home, and Dyson.
Featured image: Facebook, The Trafford Centre
Property
Molly-Mae Hague revisits first Manchester flat, now on the market for £185k
Daisy Jackson
Molly-Mae Hague’s first Manchester flat is now on the market for £185k – and the star herself has paid a visit to her old digs.
Those who have been following Molly-Mae since before she shot to serious fame on Love Island will have recognised the backdrop of her recent TikTok video.
The 27-year-old reality TV star and businesswoman posed around the one-bedroom flat, dancing to Sabrina Carpenter’s ‘House Tour’.
The apartment is where she lived just before entering Love Island, and where she and now-fiance Tommy Fury lived briefly when they left the show.
And now that exact flat where she really launched her social media career has been listed for sale, at £185,000.
The corner apartment stands on the 17th floor of Islington Wharf, overlooking New Islington tram stop and right on the doorstep of Ancoats.
Her former landlord, who arranged for Molly-Mae to have one look around her old flat before it’s sold, said that she was a ‘lovely, polite and down-to-earth young woman, and an excellent tenant who looked after the apartment extremely well.’
The one bedroom apartment has double-aspect floor-to-ceiling windows which look across Manchester on one side, and out towards the Pennines on the other.
It’s listed for sale with no chain and the option to include existing furnishings (which seems to include the same couch Molly-Mae had at the time).
The flat also has a kitchen/living space, a communal garden, superfast broadband, and is within walking distance of Manchester Piccadilly.
New measures announced to tackle ‘rogue’ landlords across Greater Manchester
Emily Sergeant
A cohort of trained enforcement officers are set to hit the streets in all 10 boroughs to help improve the lives of the region’s renters.
Forming part of Greater Manchester‘s commitment to the highest-quality housing standards alongside the Good Landlord Charter, the newly trained enforcement officers will be tasked with protecting tenants, joining Council teams in checking rental properties, bringing enforcement action against bad landlords, and cracking down on illegal practices.
The introduction of the new enforcement officers comes after what has been ‘years of sustained pressure’ on local budgets.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) says it is working with the 10 councils across the region to strengthen local teams, rebuild in-house skills and expertise, and ensure that powers can be applied with consistency in all boroughs.
As mentioned, this is happening alongside the Good Landlord Charter – which is GMCA’s ‘bold approach’ to drive up standards for renters across the region.
Landlords of more than half of rented properties in Greater Manchester have now signed up as supporters of the Charter, and as supporters, they have committed to going above and beyond legal minimums to improve the renting experience for hundreds of thousands of people.
“A safe place to call home is the cornerstone of a happy, healthy life,” explained Mayor Bev Craig. “But for years, people have felt trapped in poor-quality housing, and cash-strapped councils were unable to step in to help. I’m putting an end to that.
“We know there are plenty of good landlords in Greater Manchester, and many of them have already signed up to our Good Landlord Charter, but too many are just not good enough.
“That’s why we’re deploying a new generation of expert housing officers onto the streets of our towns and cities.”
Mayor Bev Craig declared that she ‘won’t stand by and let rogue landlords take advantage of people’.
She continued: “By empowering renters, working with responsible landlords, and using our powers to crack down on the bad ones, I will make sure everyone in Greater Manchester has the foundation for a good life.”
Daisy Jackson -
6th January 2023 
