Council set to sign lease for new Time Square attraction

COUNCIL chiefs will tonight be asked to approve the terms of a lease to a major commercial operator for Warrington’s burgeoning Time Square scheme.
No details of the operator have been made public for reasons of commercial sensitivity and members of the borough council’s executive board will be asked to approve the proposals set out in a private report.
Phase Four of the Time Square scheme is progressing well and comprises construction of the new market building, new council offices, the new town centre cinema and a number of restaurants.
The council approved the lease of the cinema to Cineworld in 2015 and target date for opening of Phase Four is in the first quarter of 2020.
A report by council leader Russ Bowden says the Time Square scheme always anticipated that the cinema and associated leisure uses would increase footfall to the town centre and the potential economic, growth, investment and benefits for the town centre.
The cinema would be the core focus and attract restaurants and other leisure uses to the location.
Securing another commercial operator would provide an income stream and demonstrate good commercial demand for Time Square.
The deal would provide additional financial resilience to the Time Square funding model.
“It is considered prudent to secure a good leisure for the property now and to demonstrate demand from commercial operators for the scheme to assist in promoting the scheme ahead of launch next year.”