An unloved shopping centre in Newcastle-under-Lyme is set to be demolished later this year after council bosses authorised contracts to move the plans forward.

York Place will be knocked down as part of a wider regeneration of Newcastle town centre, with demolition work set to be carried out by contractor Wilmott Dixon.

The council secured £11 million from the government's Future High Street Fund to cover redevelopment of the Ryecroft site and town centre, including York Place, and is now applying for planning permission for the demolition and future development.

Although the York Place demolition will mark a major milestone in the authority's plans for the town centre, some tenants who were due to vacate this month are now expected to leave at the end of the year instead.

The demolition work is scheduled to begin in October, and will be phased around the departure of the remaining tenants.

Most York Place tenants have already relocated or are in the process of relocating (Image supplied).

Currently, six out of the ten tenants have either relocated or are in the process of relocating to other premises in the town centre.

The council says it must spend the cash it was awarded from the Future High Street Fund by March 2024.

Cllr Stephen Sweeney said the York Place shopping centre is a tired and under-utilised building, and he looks forward to seeing the area transformed so that it is more reminiscent of how it was over a century ago.

Once demolition is complete the council will build a new commercial and social space – with restaurants, a music venue, the new Astley Centre and office space.

There will be two buildings within the footprint of the old shopping centre, with a large public square that links the Ryecroft development to the Iron Market and the high street.

Cllr Sweeney said: "We're hoping to get back to a bit of style, a bit of class.

"If you walk along Ironmarket and look up at the buildings, they're not 1970s monstrosities they're proper Georgian buildings and they look superb.

"I think this is the sort of image we're trying to get for Newcastle."

Cllr Simon Tagg promises the new buildings will be 'brighter and airier' than the centre is currently (Image supplied).

He said there is a picture in the Brampton Museum showing how the area looked in the 1920s, and he hopes the area could resemble this again once the development is complete.

He said: "York Place holds an important position, linking the Ryecroft project to the wider town centre.

"Its transformation will be significant both in its own right and as part of the wider regeneration of the area.

"You'll walk up the high street, round the corner of the Guild Hall, and you'll see these new building works there.

"It will be a brighter and airier situation than it is now, which is shabby and run-down and not very good at all."

Cllr Simon Tagg promised the council would share information about the project as it progresses, and that people will be able to see it take shape.

He said: "I think it's an exciting proposal, which will lift that whole area of town and be the connection into the developments on the Ryecroft.

"There will be a period when the building is demolished before the new construction starts, and I'd like to reassure people we intend to make it a space which people can walk through to connect.

"It will all be tidy, and we'll have some billboards about what's going to be going on that site.

"People need to see the demolition is part of clearing the site ready for future development."

Cllr Tagg also promised the works would not affect commemorations that take place nearby during Remembrance Sunday.

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