Festival Place


Festival Place is a shopping centre in Basingstoke, Hampshire, England which opened on Tuesday, 22 October 2002. It houses over 200 shops including large stores such as Zara, Next, Debenhams, Marks and Spencer, Apple Store and HMV. There are also restaurants, bars, and cafés, mostly located outside in the covered Festival Square. These include Nandos, Las Iguanas & GBK.
The centre also incorporates a Vue cinema, Basingstoke Sports Centre, Basingstoke Discovery Centre and Flip Out Trampoline Park. It is located within Basingstoke town centre, close to Basingstoke railway station, and incorporates the town bus station and a multi-storey car park.
Festival Place is also home to The Breeze, located in the centre management block. The Breeze FM is Basingstoke & North Hampshire's local radio station.
Festival Place is 102,000 m² in size.

History

The area of Basingstoke which Festival Place now stands on was cleared in the 1960s where a large concrete shopping centre was built. The first phase, which became The Walks and New Market Square was completed at the end of the decade and The Walks was covered in the 1987. The second phase became The Malls and has since been altered further to include a new roofed area and new modernised areas. The third phase was abandoned and became The Anvil concert hall.
Festival Place was completed in 2002. The development replaced New Market Square and a 1960s multi-storey car park and included covering Porchester Square and extending the centre to the east into a new two-level section, Festival Square and the tower which is illuminated at night. The bus station was redeveloped and an amphitheatre was built beyond Festival Square and a fountain installed in neighbouring Eastrop Park.
The centre was used by BBC's Top Gear by Jeremy Clarkson who was road testing a whilst being chased by "Baddies" in a Chevrolet Corvette.