Prince’s great

Kava cafe owner Eric Nedderman - “only positives”.

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OLDHAM business owners have given a big thumbs up to the arrival of Marks and Spencer.

The retail giant will open a food, homeware and clothing store at the new £60million Prince’s Gate development at Mumps by 2017.

The scheme will also include other retailers, leisure facilities, bars, cafes, restaurants and up to 800 new homes and is already attracting new businesses.

Jackie Lowe-Jackson, who has owned a lingerie shop in Rochdale for 10 years, is relocating to Oldham.

She said: “I think Oldham has needed this for a long time, especially this part of town.

“We live in Austerlands and have had our shop in Rochdale for a long time, but with everything going on in Oldham, it has given us confidence our business will do well here.”

Eric Nedderman owns Kava coffee shop which will be at the centre of the new park and ride facility once M&S opens.

He said: “We will be right at the heart of this new development. We had heard M&S was coming to town but until the deal was signed, nothing was certain. When the new Mumps stop was created, I had a feeling something big would follow. This will bring people to Oldham and create a vital link from the centre to Prince’s Gate.

“There will be trade for us from all the construction workers while it is being built, so there is nothing but positives for us. If we thought Mumps was going to stay as it is now we wouldn’t have opened a shop here. But our faith in the town has paid off.”

Clothes shop Zutti opened in Yorkshire Street 34 years ago. Owner Maggie Hughes said: “This announcement was music to my ears, I phoned my friends the second I heard the news.

“I feel like I never want to retire now. The town will be buzzing and Yorkshire Street will be able to get back to what it was like many years ago when it was full of good-quality independent shops.

“ I have started to see things picking up slightly over the past few months but this is the icing on the cake. It feels like we are being rewarded for sticking with the town through the hard times. I have never lost faith that good things were coming in Oldham and 2017 will be here before we know it.”

Many other traders echoed their sentiments.


FORMER Oldham Council chief executive Charlie Parker, who moved to Westminster Council last year, was instrumental in securing the interest of Marks and Spencer.

He said: “This is the culmination of a lot of hard work and planning. We did a lot of work before we even spoke to Marks and Spencer. The real change came about when we had a meeting with the M&S chief executive in London and we were able to convince him this wasn’t just a pipe dream.

“The cinema deal is done, M&S is secured, other projects are ongoing — all symptomatic of having the clarity of vision and a real sense of purpose and drive to bring about changes needed.

“It shows that even in difficult times, people will invest in the town.”