UK shopping centre that's been trading for 40 years to be demolished amid store closures

A shopping centre that has been trading in Wakefield for four decades is set to be demolished after senior councillors approved a major redevelopment plan. The Ridings Shopping Centre, which first opened in 1983 and was seen at the time as a pioneering, American-style retail complex, will make way for a £50 million transformation of the city centre.

The Labour-run Wakefield Council has agreed to buy the 1980s mall so it can be knocked down and replaced with new homes, leisure facilities, green spaces and event areas. The huge programme forms part of the new Cathedral Quarter regeneration scheme, which is designed to reshape the city centre over the next decade.