A double espresso for the Merrion Centre as TCS signs up Costa for New Front scheme

Tue 30 Jul, 2013

Costa, the UK’s favourite coffee shop, has signed a lease on a 3,740 sq ft unit at Town Centre Securities‘ (TCS) New Front scheme on Merrion Way adjacent to the new First Direct Arena, creating up to ten new jobs.

This is the second Costa store based within the Merrion Centre and the new outlet will include an outdoor, continental-style seating area.

Helen Green, Associate Director for Town Centre Securities PLC said: “Costa trades very well at Woodhouse Lane so we’re really pleased to include a second store at the Merrion Centre as part of the New Front scheme. This is one of ten units that form an 80,000 sq ft leisure scheme right opposite the First Direct Arena which opened this week. We are creating a destination that offers a great range of food and drink choices that will be popular with shoppers, office workers and visitors to the Arena alike. This development, part of the new Arena Quarter, is really going to enhance this part of the city centre. ”

A Costa spokesperson commented: “As the UK’s favourite coffee shop and one of the success stories on the UK high street, we are proud to be part of the New Front scheme by opening our Merrion Way Costa store, our second retail outlet within Leeds’ Merrion Centre. We work closely with planning departments and developers including that of TCS, to continue to open new stores for the benefit of local communities, creating new jobs and providing attractive and popular meeting places. We will continue to work with our Merrion Way team to deliver great tasting coffee for Leeds coffee lovers whilst doing all that we can to integrate ourselves within the local community.”

The New Front scheme is a leisure scheme with bars, cafes, restaurants and a gym along Merrion Way and Wade Lane. The development also includes public realm works that will allow for outside dining. The development also incorporates the 1,000 space multi-storey car park, operated by Town Centre Car Parks (TCCP), which will undergo a complete refurbishment and up-grade, creating convenient state-of-the-art parking for shoppers, visitors and Arena users.