New restaurants on menu for retail park

12:00pm Monday 21st May 2012 in Oxford Photograph of the Author By Andrew Smith, Business Editor. Call me on 01865 425460

An artist’s impression of the new cafe/restaurants at the Templars Retail Park in Cowley An artist’s impression of the new cafe/restaurants at the Templars Retail Park in Cowley

WORK on a £3.5m shopping centre redevelopment in Oxford will start this autumn.

The Templars Retail Park, in Between Towns Road, Cowley, will get three new cafe/restaurants and a landscaped piazza area.

As part of the deal, developers have donated £10,000 to enhance a walkway through to a nearby park.

The cafes will be built on the site of the B&Q DIY store, alongside a new Sainsbury’s supermarket.

Although no operators for the cafes have been signed up yet, they are like to be national chains, according to the scheme’s architects, the Harris Partnership.

Gary Humphreys, who heads the Milton Keynes office of the firm, said: “The new-look park will have a contemporary feel and will boast an upbeat fashionable leisure element that will see shoppers eating and relaxing as part of their retail experience.

“It will also attract people who simply want to dine in a pleasant green environment.”

Other facilities will include improved car parking and secure cycle parking. The development has been welcomed by Cowley ward city councillor Shah Khan.

He said: “I’m particularly pleased because £10,000 has been given towards improving lighting and general safety for a walkway to the John Allen Park behind Matalan.

“The restaurants are also welcome, as they will give people more choice and will create jobs.”

A wall which borders the site and once belonged to agricultural machinery manufacturer John Allen & Sons, will be moved and a garden created on a grassed area at the corner of Between Towns Road and Rymers Lane, beyond the existing boundary fence.

The project is expected to be completed by summer next year, with work on the neighbouring Sainsbury’s supermarket due to be finished early in 2014.

Mr Humphreys added: “When complete, the new-look Templars will be an uplifting environment that blends an historic past with a modern feel.”

Last year, a new Asda Living store opened at the retail park, creating 80 jobs.

Comments(20)

Kidlington Dave says...
12:50pm Mon 21 May 12

“The new-look park will have a contemporary feel and will boast an upbeat fashionable leisure element that will see shoppers eating and relaxing as part of their retail experience."

Is Gary Humphreys an android or did he have his personality removed with a spoon and replaced by a corporate press release generator?

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King Joke says...
12:56pm Mon 21 May 12

Dave, could it be that they're right?

Some of us are happy to top off a shopping trip in Cowley in the Nelson alongside the neo-nazis, or in Wethy's with the alcoholics, and some of us are not.

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Andrew:Oxford says...
1:04pm Mon 21 May 12

It won't be anything upmarket...

I'd guess "restaurants" that are child friendly for rewarding after a shopping trip, with potential for embracing the school lunchtime market to maximise profitability.

So that'll be a burger chain, a pizza chain and maybe something Chinese or Chicken orientated.

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King Joke says...
1:09pm Mon 21 May 12

I quite liked Cagney's, is it still open?

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Dr bob is my hero says...
1:44pm Mon 21 May 12

McDonalds, KFC, and Kebab Kid would be ideal for the type of shoppers that go there during the day, and perfect for the locals in the evening for a high class dining experience. (for them). Although it may put Iceland in Cowley Centre out of business.

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online_reader says...
3:35pm Mon 21 May 12

Actually quite like Kebab Kid, decent local firm, nice spicy chicken. Pretty broad range of people visit for TK Maxx I reckon, definitely not just people who live nearby. As an aside, where are B&Q going, if anywhere? The Cowley store is the biggest for miles isn't it?

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LORD PETER MACVEY 0X2 6EG says...
7:49pm Mon 21 May 12

online_reader wrote:
Actually quite like Kebab Kid, decent local firm, nice spicy chicken. Pretty broad range of people visit for TK Maxx I reckon, definitely not just people who live nearby. As an aside, where are B&Q going, if anywhere? The Cowley store is the biggest for miles isn't it?
Kebab Kid is actually rubbish. They use the cheapest NON HFA certified meat, and cut corners at every possible chance to increase the one thing that matters to them. The Bottom Line. If you are in Gloucester Green Go to Branos, better meat and service, the owners see a customer, unlike K.K. who see only £ signs. And On Cowley Rd or St Clements there are many other choices Bodrum being the best.

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Oxford_OK says...
11:14pm Mon 21 May 12

.. with a beautiful view of the multi-storey car park. Have these developers actually stood up and looked around? I'm not sure an "upbeat fashionable leisure element" will appeal to the local residents of Cowley, and why would anybody visit? What a £3.5m waste! We'll probably see the units boarded up and desolate in no time.

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gymrat34 says...
4:54am Tue 22 May 12

What are they going to do about improving traffic flow in and out of 'The Templars Retail Park' (formerly The John Allen Centre)? Also, if doesn't have enough spaces as it is, let alone if the Sainsburys attracts more business.

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Myron Blatz says...
9:51am Tue 22 May 12

Personally, I think the developers have missed a golden opportunity to raise the profile of this part of Oxford, at what will become the successor to the John Allen Centre. Instead, it should have been redeveloped into The Cowley Upon Thames Village Retail Experience' with scores of up-market, snob-appeal shops on multi-levels, complete with a rooftop helicopter pad. This should include Coutts (posh bankers) John Lewis (no relation to the tv cop) Harrods (rather than Halfords) and boutique auction houses and art galleries such as Sotheby's, in addition to Sainsbury's? All a bit daft ...... though perhaps no dafter than the developers (backed presumably Labour-led City Council) totally ignoring the domestic socio-economic hinterland, and the actual needs of the people who actually LIVE in the area. Instead of 'designer cafes' perhaps it really needs CAB and other drop-in centres, and more shops which can provide foodstuff and clothing at affordable and realistic prices. It's absolutely amazing that developers for this part of Cowley Centre are planning to start work in the Autumn, when the site of the former Cowley Community Centre still remains undeveloped, and the people who actually LIVE in the area continue to be denied a proper Community Centre (not a community meeting room) by a Labour-led City Council which only seems interested in creating yet more glitzy showcase developments which most people don't actually need or want. Or, maybe we really should be trying to spend our way out of recession - like Labour now wants ...... and Gordon Brown spectacularly FAILED to achieve over 13 years? Still, with more posh people going to the new 'shopping experience' in Cowley, perhaps bus companies will replace old, creaking buses with posh ones - or even divert airport and London coaches to call at the new 'shopping experience' where they would also be able to visit (and probably save) one of Cowley Centre's better-know public ale houses, while waiting for the next coach!

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Inkpot says...
9:52am Tue 22 May 12

Sainsbury's customers will take the bulk of the parking spaces forcing everyone else to pay to use the multi-storey, and the numbers of customers will slowly decrease till only sainsurys will be viable!!!!

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SteveOX4 says...
2:19pm Tue 22 May 12

What's happening to B&Q?

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King Joke says...
2:48pm Tue 22 May 12

Maybe they're not aiming for Cowley's traditional catchment area on the Leys, but Temple Cowley and the Cowley Rd? It's barely 10 mins on the bus from Magdalen Rd, and the route has buses under two years old, unlike the 'old, creaking' ones Myron alludes to, presumably on 10-road.

After all the Marks & Sparks on the Cowley Retail Park does OK, despite the uninspiring surroundings.

Gymrat, I think the long-term plan is to start charging for parking, as you're right, the current free-for-all couldn't cope with a large upturn in demand.

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King Joke says...
2:49pm Tue 22 May 12

Maybe they're not aiming for Cowley's traditional catchment area on the Leys, but Temple Cowley and the Cowley Rd? It's barely 10 mins on the bus from Magdalen Rd, and the route has buses under two years old, unlike the 'old, creaking' ones Myron alludes to, presumably on 10-road.

After all the Marks & Sparks on the Cowley Retail Park does OK, despite the uninspiring surroundings.

Gymrat, I think the long-term plan is to start charging for parking, as you're right, the current free-for-all couldn't cope with a large upturn in demand.

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Andrew:Oxford says...
6:36pm Tue 22 May 12

SteveOX4 wrote:
What's happening to B&Q?
It may well stay, implementing a mezzanine floor to increase floorspace whilst reducing overall footprint.

There have been rumours amongst the commercial property agents in the area that the former Royal Mail Sorting office has been considered. There has also been a suggestion that disused car-park behind Tesco in Ambassador Avenue is of interest - but that has often been ear-marked for the expansion of that particular Tesco store to a Tesco Extra.

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LORD PETER MACVEY 0X2 6EG says...
7:52pm Tue 22 May 12

Andrew:Oxford wrote:
SteveOX4 wrote:
What's happening to B&Q?
It may well stay, implementing a mezzanine floor to increase floorspace whilst reducing overall footprint.

There have been rumours amongst the commercial property agents in the area that the former Royal Mail Sorting office has been considered. There has also been a suggestion that disused car-park behind Tesco in Ambassador Avenue is of interest - but that has often been ear-marked for the expansion of that particular Tesco store to a Tesco Extra.
What is the difference between the current Tesco and an Extra, do they charge more?

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cynicality says...
12:57pm Wed 23 May 12

Can I just say that I Hate People Who Say 'an historic...'? Why not pronounce the 'h' in historic? You wouldn't say 'an history lesson'! Would you???

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King Joke says...
1:04pm Wed 23 May 12

Cynicality, this is the correct way to say it whether you pronounce the 'h' or not. It's also correct to say 'an hotel'. I think it's something to do with the fact the words came from French.

Yes it looks daft, but it's correct and that's that.

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LORD PETER MACVEY 0X2 6EG says...
9:46pm Thu 24 May 12

King Joke wrote:
Cynicality, this is the correct way to say it whether you pronounce the 'h' or not. It's also correct to say 'an hotel'. I think it's something to do with the fact the words came from French.

Yes it looks daft, but it's correct and that's that.
No mate I book a Hotel not an hotel.

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King Joke says...
10:14am Fri 25 May 12

I think you'll find the correct terminology is an hotel. It's not something I use in daily speech, but it's correct in written English.

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