The Forge Shopping Centre

Construction

The GEAR (Glasgow East Area Renewal) scheme was founded in 1976, then Europe's largest urban regeneration project of its kind, to provide "core areas with development potential" in the east end of Glasgow. A new shopping centre was part of the plan, ideally to replace the then recently closed Parkhead Forge plant of the Beardmore's steel works. The shopping centre was going to contain a supermarket, a new multiplex cinema and at least 40 units. Work on the shopping centre began in 1986, and the building was opened to the public on 10 October 1988. The main anchor tenant was a Gateway supermarket (at the time the largest in Scotland), but this changed over to Asda early in 1990 and has remained as such ever since. The other two anchor tenants are In Shops and Marks and Spencer (originally Littlewoods).

Extension

A second phase of the Forge Shopping Centre incorporated a new indoor market and a retail park site in the mid-1990s.

Recently, the centre was extended to allow space for a new department store. Currently, money is being spent on remodelling the centre with and modernising it. A new ceiling and tiles on floor can currently be seen, partly constructed near the Dunnes Stores/Primark exit of the centre.

Current stores

The Forge has a range of shops including three anchor stores: Dunnes Stores, Primark and Asda and a multiplex cinema on site. A McDonald's drive-thru is erected in the vicinity of the car park.