The Brunel Centre was once a thriving retail destination, attracting shoppers from far and wide. "It was incredible," says town councillor Keith Ely, who remembers its opening in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire, in 1973. Back then, centre:MK, a large destination shopping centre four miles away in Milton Keynes, did not exist, and the Brunel was quite the draw.
Now, like many other medium-sized shopping centres, it is struggling. Vacant units and graffiti-daubed shutters dominate, and it has just one store left. That remaining shop, a Boots Opticians, is set to close later this month ahead of the centre's planned demolition next year.
But Ely, 87, is not upset to see the Brunel make way for flats and a health centre, with only some retail space. "It is a sad old building, isn't it?" he says. "There is no nostalgia from me." In the Grafton Centre, Cambridge, it is a similar story, with shuttered units, a large empty former Debenhams department store and a permanently closed cinema.
There are long-term plans for a redevelopment to include retail but also a life science centre. This may work in Cambridge, a global leader in life sciences, but it is not an option in much of the country. So, in the age of online shopping, what lies ahead for these medium-sized malls?
"There are too many in the UK and many don't have a future," is the stark assessment of Subjit Jassy, a director at Pioneer Group, which owns the centre. "The old model of retailers expanding to improve turnover has now disappeared because of the internet." Analysis by commercial property firm CBRE, external found that while the vacancy rate across UK shopping centres in the second quarter of this year was 16%, it was "significantly lower" at major centres. Meanwhile, research by estate agents Savills found between April and June 2026 almost 73% of consumer spending in shopping centres was in the biggest sites, with less than 18% in secondary, or medium-sized centres.
"It is not just that shopping centres have one destiny; they really don't," says Dr Kardi Somerfield, a lecturer in marketing at the University of Northampton. Some destination shopping centres are running at "almost 100% occupancy", she adds. Back at the Brunel, Labour's Ed Hume, responsible for housing at Milton Keynes City Council, says: "We do need shops.
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