Friars Walk, Newport

The site was originally planned by Modus Corovest, however these were scrapped in 2009 due to the 2008 financial crisis.{{cite news|title=City's £200m shops plan scrapped |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/8093918.stm |work=BBC Wales News |date=10 June 2009 |access-date=1 December 2014 }}

Plans were revived in a £100 million public-private scheme by Queensberry Real Estate and Newport City Council in 2012. Plans included a six-screen cinema, ten pin bowling alley, eight restaurants and a 350 space carpark.{{cite news|title=Newport's Friars Walk shopping plan approved |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-17513893 |work=BBC Wales News |date=26 March 2012 |access-date=1 December 2014 }} A new bus station was also included, with finance coming from a £90 million loan from Newport City Council.{{cite news|author=Ruth Mansfield |title=Newport Friars Walk is taking shape |url=http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/11507209.Newport_Friars_Walk_is_taking_shape/?ref=mr |work=South Wales Argus |date=1 October 2014 |access-date=1 December 2014 }}

The new design was by Leslie Jones Architecture. Construction began in April 2014. The scheme opened on 12 November 2015, raising Newport from 200th to 77th in the UK's retail rankings and heralded as a "lifeline for Newport".{{cite news |author=Karen Price |title=Newport's Friars Walk offers a real lifeline for the city so let's hope locals support it |url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/newports-friars-walk-offers-real-10434924 |work=Wales Online |date=12 November 2015 |access-date=13 November 2015}} The total cost came to £117 million.

The complex is linked by the redeveloped John Frost Square to the Kingsway Shopping Centre, Newport Museum, Art Gallery and Central Library and Newport bus station. The complex is a short walk from the high street shops of Commercial Street and High Street. Newport railway station is also a short walk away.

The Friars Walk car park holds 350 cars and over 1,000 spaces are available in the adjacent Kingsway multi-storey car park, both accessed from the A4042 Kingsway. There are cycle racks located in Usk Plaza.

The ownership of the site has been the source of discussion due to the decision of the freeholder, Newport City Council, to not disclose the beneficial owner of the headlease,{{Cite web |date=2023-08-01 |title=Calls for clarity over who owns Friars Walk |url=https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/23691843.friars-walk-owns-newport-shopping-centre/ |access-date=2024-01-28 |website=South Wales Argus |language=en}} and therefore not reveal the recipient of the substantial subsidy payments for empty units, which amounted to £1 million over two years as of 2022.{{Cite web |date=2023-09-24 |title=City council's £3m bill to subsidise Friars Walk shopping centre |url=https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/23809206.friars-walk-newport-3m-subsidy-bill-newport-council/ |access-date=2024-01-28 |website=South Wales Argus |language=en}}

The site was developed by Queensberry Real Estate after a loan agreement in a public-private partnership with Newport City Council. However this left the council open to shortfalls for empty units, prompting it to agree a subsidy arrangement with Queensberry which ensures that the Council pays compensation (up to a cap) for empty units in the development.

In June 2017, the site's developer Queensberry Real Estate sold the centre to Talisker Corporation,{{cite web|url=http://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/news/15339289.BREAKING__Friars_Walk_sold/|title=Friars Walk has been sold to a Canadian investment company|website=South Wales Argus|date=9 June 2017 }} the Canadian owner of Main Square in Toronto, and Canyons Resort in Park City, Utah.

It emerged that the leasehold interest in the site (Friars Walk LH Limited) had changed hands in early 2022. Wales Online repeatedly sought to obtain these details through a Freedom of Information request but the Council initially refused stating that "the disclosure of information relating to [...] financial or commercial performance could likely affect future business dealings along with the reputation of the parties concerned".{{Cite web |last=O'Neill |first=Ryan |date=2023-12-18 |title=Nobody can work out who owns this £100m shopping centre |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/nobody-can-still-work-out-28291059 |access-date=2024-01-28 |website=Wales Online |language=en}}

In July 2023 it was reported that the rights to the subsidy payment had been sold separately to the ownership of the lease on the site, to a Jersey based business named Old Star Finance.

In January 2024 it was confirmed that Cyrus Capital Partners Europe LLP were the new beneficial owners of the headlease.{{Cite web |last=O'Neill |first=Ryan |date=2024-01-28 |title=The hedge fund behind a huge shopping centre that nobody wanted us to know about |url=https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/hedge-fund-behind-100m-shopping-28472192 |access-date=2024-01-28 |website=Wales Online |language=en}} The business is a subsidiary of the Anglo-American hedge fund of the same name, which specialises in "complex, structurally distressed investments".{{Cite web |date=2006 |title=Cyrus Capital Management - brochure |url=http://cyruscm.com/index_files/brochure.pdf |website=cyruscm.com}} The European business is run by Lucien Farrell, who has made "investments in over 100 companies, the majority of which would be considered stressed or distressed companies" including the now defunct British airline Flybe.{{Cite web |title=The secretive hedge fund boss at the controls of Flybe |url=https://www.ft.com/content/ed86c7be-438f-11ea-a43a-c4b328d9061c |access-date=2024-01-28 |website=www.ft.com}}

As of March 2023, retailers included:{{Cite map |author=OpenStreetMap |date=29 January 2022 |title=Kingsway Centre |url=https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=18/51.58703/-2.99359 |website=OpenStreetMap |access-date=29 January 2022}}

{{Cast listing|

• Cakes and Bakes
• Charmed I'm Sure
• Chupacabra Taxidermy
• Cineworld (closed indefinitely)
• Coffee #1
• Coffee Corner
• Cosmo's
• Costa
• Drago Lounge
• E Designs
• EE
• Fabrix
• Greggs
• H&M
• Holland and Barrett
• JC's Kitchen
• JD Sports
• KFC
• Las Iguanas
• M&S Foodhall
• Nandos
• New Look
• New Pastures Home Shop
• Next
• No Comply Skate Park
• P&P Possibilities
• Pandora
• Poundland
• Quirky Finds
• Rainbow and Sunshine Gifts
• River Island
• Select Convenience (bus station)
• Sharon McKinley Designs
• Shoe Zone
• Sin City Comics
• Sketchers
• Smiggle
• Superbowl
• TGI Fridays
• The Port (market village)
• The Welsh Confection
• Vodafone
• VX3 (Newport County and Dragons store)
• Wagamama
• Zizzi}}

The steps connecting Usk Plaza to John Frost Square are inscribed with the six points of the People's Charter to commemorate the Chartist movement and the Newport Rising of 1839 led by John Frost.

Image:Friars Walk development, Newport - geograph.org.uk - 3975496.jpg|Friars Walk during construction

Image:Friars_Walk,_Newport.jpg|Usk Plaza, Friars Walk, 2015

Image:Chartist Steps1 Newport.jpg|Chartist steps (upper), Friars Walk

Image:Chartist Steps2 Newport.jpg|Chartist steps (lower), Friars Walk

Image:Vision of Saint Gwynllyw Sculpture.jpg|Sculpture of Vision of Saint Gwynllyw by Sebastien Boyesen

Image:Friars Walk, Newport viewed from Austin Friars.jpg|Viewed from Austin Friars, to the south west

{{Reflist}}

{{City of Newport}}

{{Shopping centres in Wales}}

Category:Shopping in Newport, Wales

Category:Shopping centres in Wales

Category:Commercial buildings completed in 2015