It looks like Wigan will become the latest town in the UK to get its own esports venue.
Wigan Council has announced that Galleries25 has been appointed strategic development partner for a£130m redevelopment of the 440,000sq ft Galleries Shopping Centre in Wigan.
This redevelopment will include a multimedia centre with its own music and esports venue, six-screen cinema, bowling alley, indoor mini golf, food and beverage units and an evening entertainment space, according to this post on the Wigan Council website.
It will also include a new hotel, 464 residential units, a new market hall, co-working space and small offices, a space for outdoor events and more.
Construction is set to begin in early 2022 and finish in 2025.
Following consultation with residents, retailers, traders and visitors, the proposals have been designed to ‘transform Wigan town centre into a vibrant, attractive and accessible place to live, work, visit and learn helping to secure it’s long term future’.
Galleries25 is a joint venture partnership between property development firm Cityheart and Beijing Construction Engineering Group International (BCEGI).
The Leader of Wigan Council, Councillor David Molyneux, said: “These proposals very much reflect the feedback we got from residents about the importance of vibrant town centres during the Big Listening Project in 2018 and the more recent consultation held earlier this year.
“Now more than ever it’s vital we do everything we can to create exciting and welcoming town centres to help support our local businesses and jobs. These plans do just that and I certainly can’t wait to see them materialise.”
Wigan Council says environmentally friendly construction techniques will be used to reduce the environmental impact. This includes the installation of photovoltaics to generate solar power and reduce carbon emissions, energy efficient water fittings to reduce water consumption and electric car charging points and cycling storage in the car park.
The plans are similar to recent proposals made by Bristol and Southport, both of which hope to have their own esports venues too.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
