From nothing to something in Bournemouth: Castlepoint’s ‘Glow Up’ over 100 years.
Castlepoint is a busy, modern car park shopping centre, but how much do we actually know about this once desolate plot of land? Like most of Bournemouth’s retail areas, there is a rich history of culture, and retail expansion, with Castlepoint as a prime example.
Before becoming Castlepoint in October of 2003, the shopping area was named the Hampshire Centre, with the basis of being an out of town, trendy, American style centre. However, throughout the 70’s and 80’s there was a rise in vacancies and therefore the shopping center dwindled as a result. Have you ever wondered how it came to be, and what was there before? Read on to find out more about the retail park we know today.
Beginnings
To find out about the beginnings of Castlepoint as an area, we need to look towards the road that is Castle Lane, the name it is currently and was back in the 1930’s.
The 1933 map above shows the main road that linked towards the area that would become Castlepoint. From this map, we can see that it once was agricultural land, nestled by the River Stour. As many plotted lands of Bournemouth are formed on the basis of a farm landscape, this is not a surprise to see. In comparison, Bournemouth square and it’s coordinating gardens were already a bustling and metropolitan area by the 1930’s. With the beach, shops and natural scenery as its main tourist attractions, Bournemouth itself had built its own reputation as a trendy and prominent place to visit for tourists from Dorset and beyond. The video below is a travelogue from 1930, that narrates through the different seasons, and the corresponding shopping interests. It gives a great impression into the lifestyle and shopping experiences of tourists and locals who were drawn to Bournemouth square and its beach.
It is until March 1945, that a map shows the outlines of a shopping centre at Castle Lane, with construction lines and plans for allotments in the land.
With the idea of an American style mall, described as shops formed in a one story row behind a car park, it was the year 1968 that brought Bournemouth locals to The Hampshire Centre. This new layout was to make sure it was set apart to the square, its main competitor, that was laid out as a typical shopping centre, spread across this active seaside town. One of The Hampshire Centre’s main selling points was its Woolco, a significantly bigger version of the shop Woolworths, being the largest ‘out of town’ department store in Britain at the time.
“’Out of town’ is very much in”
The Evening Echo, 1968.
This style of mall brought a certain edge and attraction to the outskirts of Bournemouth town, and encouraged locals and weekly shoppers from Bournemouth suburbs and the surrounding area alike to use the shopping centre for recreational and purposeful use. There were also restaurants and petrol stations, meaning that travelling out of town was accustomed to, and therefore encouraged for those reliant on cars.
Decline
However, the decline of the Hampshire Centre has been traced back to the 1980’s, only 20 years after the centre was opened, with the mall being described as overly dated, with not enough shops. With the closure of Woolco’s in 1986, the main attraction site, the Hampshire Centre’s deterioration started to begin. In addition to this, the council strongly argued against any renovations or construction to the centre because of worries about traffic and the economic impact that would cause, as shown below in this planning register from 1989.
Reinvention
Nonetheless, the closure of such shops led to the opportunity for more openings in the future, and there was an ever growing demand for the plot to be renovated, despite the council’s concerns. In October 2003, after around 10 years of construction and planning, a new shopping centre opened. It had a focus of big, modern convenience stores and a shopping experience separate from the intimate, cosmopolitan square of Bournemouth, similar to the intentions of the Hampshire Centre. With empty vacancies replaced by 40 stores, such as Argos, WHSmith, and even retail chains such as H&M, The Hampshire Centre was renewed into Castlepoint, named after the road adjacent, Castle Lane. The dated decor from the 1960’s was also replaced with timeless and modern furnishing. The opening ceremony for the center was a great success, with a crowd of over 1000 residents and locals flocking to see the new improvements.
“If we wanted to shop in a big store we had to travel to Southampton or farther but now we have a huge development right at our doorstep: that’s exciting!”
Alison Caswell, Christchurch, Bournemouth Echo, 2003.
The map below is an aerial shot of the shopping centre in 2011. From this, we can draw a great comparison to the maps shown earlier, and its remarkable transformation as an area.
What are your memories of Castle Lane and the surrounding area? Do you remember the Hampshire Centre? Whatever we may recall about this hub of retail, it is important to note that these developments and changes are crucial to our local history, and can serve for stories alike to be shared for generations. For more information, and opportunities to tell your own personal experiences, join the Bournemouth Local History Facebook group, linked below.
Sources Used:
Borough of Bournemouth, Map of Castle Lane, 1:2500 (Southampton: Hampshire sheet 86, Section 2, 1933).
Map of The Hampshire Centre, 1:1250 (Southampton: Ordnance Survey Office, 1945).
Map of Castlepoint, 1:100 (Southampton Ordnance Survey Office, 13th October 2011).
Planning register, Castle Lane, 1989.
British Pathé, “Bournemouth – All Seasons!” [black and white travelogue footage], 1930-1939, YouTube, accessed January 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWz5rfgbULA&feature=emb_logo
Find Out More:
Bournemouth Echo https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/search/?search=castlepoint
Bournemouth Library and Archives https://www.bournemouth.gov.uk/Libraries/MyLocalLibrary/BournemouthLibrary.aspx