Chris Hill, an established social entrepreneur, has helped set up the Arcade Group, a community business leading the rejuvenation of the historic building.
Chris said: “Dewsbury is a poor town. It’s one of those towns that has been going steadily downhill, with Saturday footfall decreasing rapidly over the last ten years or so. Even our Wetherspoons closed, which says a lot.”
Dewsbury’s commercial vacancy rates are double the national average, while its employment rates are lower than the national average. But the Arcade Group are hopeful they can help play a role in the broader revival of the town centre by transforming the empty, historic arcade.
Repurposing a historic space
The Arcade, which was built in 1899 with its beautiful roof and ironwork, is close to the hearts of many Dewsbury people. It was once a popular town centre thoroughfare.
But after falling footfall, poor management and lack of investment by absentee owners, the Dewsbury Arcade emptied out in 2011 and finally closed in 2016. It crossed Chris’s radar in 2020.
Chris said: “The possibility for Dewsbury Arcade was introduced to me by someone I’d worked with on a pub community buyout in Leeds. He said there’s an empty arcade next to me in Dewsbury, why don’t we do the same thing here?”
Chris specialises in town centre regeneration and collaborates with residents and business owners to develop and run new community businesses. Chris said: “For the last 25 years, I’ve been getting together with groups who fall in love with a building, helping them form a cooperative, developing the business and the building. Then after a few years, the cooperative takes over and continues to run it.”
Chris collaborated with eight business leaders who lived or worked in the town and helped to pitch the idea of an independent shopping centre to the council, which was already in the process of buying the historic arcade from a landlord.
In 2020, Kirklees Council bought the once much-loved arcade. Once opened in autumn 2025, the shopping centre will be managed by the Arcade Group as a community business run independently from the council. They have brought together people with business experience, energy and imagination to create a popular Arcade that they hope will never close again. Together, a steering group of community activists, pub owners, developers, builders, an arts company, a surveyor and a lawyer will help run the asset in the long term.
Resident Natalie Liddle runs Eye Wood Vintage in Dewsbury and is a member of the Arcade’s Board. She said: “The Arcade redevelopment will be the first of a series of regeneration strategies that will revitalise the economy and give the community a town it can really be proud of again.
“I got involved as I’ve been based in Dewsbury since 2012 and despite the decline, I love it here. I live here, my business is here, I shop here and I socialise here. The people are kind and friendly and there’s a real hope and enthusiasm for the changes that need to come. I really wanted to contribute to making Dewsbury a better place for everyone – somewhere safer, more engaging and welcoming that celebrates the strengths the town has to offer. The Arcade will be the catalyst for the town’s renaissance and I’m proud and excited to be part of this journey.”
The Arcade will be a springboard for young entrepreneurs, with a mix of retail, activity and culture. It will also work with other Dewsbury projects and keep the money local. It will have 16 exciting and affordable small shops and four larger shops. The second floor above the shops will offer six studios for artists, offices or events.
Talking about the vision over its ten-year lease, Chris said: “We’re going to focus on speciality food and drink, clothing and the like from independent businesses that are already online and capable of building their own crowd. The good thing about the shops being so small is that rent for those units we will have is cheap – £100 a week. It’s the sort of thing a new business can try. We want to provide places where people want to visit, providing a diversity of shops.”
It is hoped that the Arcade will create tens of local jobs and generate thousands of pounds in revenue for independent businesses. The Arcade has already had interest from various prospective tenants, including a local bakery, a heritage clothing store, a luxury accessories brand, a cafe, a shop selling gifts made by students from Kirklees College and local schools, as well as an artist co-operative.
Can an old Arcade drive regeneration?
The Arcade is just one part of revitalising Dewsbury’s town centre. By bringing the much-loved arcade back to life, this community business will make better use of the space that might otherwise remain derelict.
Talking about how the ability to increase footfall in the rest of the town centre will impact the success of the Arcade, Chris said: “It became obvious that unless we sort out the whole of the Dewsbury town centre, the Arcade will crash and burn after a couple of years. If we’re going to break this cycle of empty shops, we’ve got to get people back into the town centre. We’ve got to get people shopping.”
Working with the Arts House, the Arcade Group have also brokered a deal with the large shopping centre next door to the Arcade, and are currently filling the empty shops there too. They have also been trialling events in the town centre, funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, to bring in new people and explore what could also work at the Arcade. The Group also organised Dewsbury’s first food festival in years, which proved very successful.
Generating additional excitement and investment in the area, the Arcade Group are also working with Kirklees Council Markets Team to source tenants into the Market, Arcade and other town centre vacant units. The Group has also created a business network focused on attracting people to Dewsbury, in liaison with the Chamber of Trade.
Dewsbury Arcade is highlighting the need for Dewsbury and other towns to align their shops with local need. Chris thinks there should be a dedicated role for someone to “curate the town centre” – finding new tenants, bringing in successful business from elsewhere and leading the activation of the whole area – not just the Arcade. He said: “That’s the missing piece.”
Learn about the communities reimaginig vacant department stores in their communities in our latest report Department Stories.
