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Arndale Centres were the first "American style" malls to be built in the United Kingdom. In total, twenty three Arndales have been built in the United Kingdom, and three in Australia. The first opened in Jarrow in 1961, as a pedestrianised shopping area.
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History
Shortly after the end of the Second World War, Arnold Hagenbach, a baker with a talent for property investment, and Sam Chippendale, an estate agent from Otley, set up a company called the Arndale Property Trust, the name being a portmanteau of "Arnold" and "Chippendale".
The Trust purchased Bradford's Victorian Swan Arcade in 1954 with the intention of demolishing it and developing a new shopping centre, but it took eight years before leases expired and building work could commence, so in the meantime it developed a site in Jarrow, South Tyneside, which became the first Arndale Centre when it opened in 1961. Its trademark Viking statue, built by the Trust, was unveiled on 17 February 1962.
When the Wandsworth Arndale opened in 1971 it was the largest indoor shopping space in Europe.
The largest Arndale Centre built was Manchester Arndale. It was redeveloped in 1996 after being badly damaged in an IRA bombing, and the centre has been owned by Prudential since 1998. The centre suffered minor damage during the 2011 Manchester riots.
Criticism
The Arndale Centres attracted a great deal of criticism as they often involved demolishing old buildings – particularly Victorian buildings – and replacing them with modern concrete constructions in a brutalist style.
"There are people today amassing stupendous fortunes by systematically destroying our historic centres," wrote architectural writer James Lees-Milne, in 1964. "Eventually, all the buildings of the area – good, bad and indifferent – are replaced with chain stores, supermarkets and blocks of flats devoid of all distinction, and all looking alike."
The value of the Wandsworth Arndale was maximised by the high-rise tower blocks built on top of the mall, which helped it to become, according to some commentators, "one of London’s great architectural disasters".