Plans to transform Wakefield’s former Debenhams store at Trinity Walk Shopping Centre into a bowling alley and small retail units

Details of the transformation of the flagship building at the city’s Trinity Walk Shopping Centre are revealed in documents submitted to Wakefield Council.

Designs include turning the upper floor of the building into a bowling alley and creating four smaller retail units on the ground floor.

Calls for more city centre leisure facilities, including a bowling alley, have been made in recent years by members of the public, councillors and the business community.

A planning application submitted to the local authority relates only to the proposals for the ground floor and has been approved by officers.

A report said planning permission would not be required for a change of use of the building to include a bowling alley.

The application, by Savills estate agents, said a “ten pin unit is agreed between landlord and tenant” but the planned retail units “currently do not have a confirmed end user”.

Wakefield’s Debenhams store shut in May 2021 as part of nationwide closures after the struggling department store entered into administration the previous year.

It came almost exactly a decade after it began trading in May 2011 when Trinity Walk opened.

Michael Graham, the council’s cabinet member for regeneration and economic growth, said bringing a bowling alley to the city was a priority when he took over the portfolio in 2023.

Speaking at the time, he said: “For a long time, people in Wakefield have been telling the council that they really want to see more leisure in the city.

“They want things to come into the city for. Something for families to do.

“Now is the time that we finally need to listen to them and we need to deliver.

“We need something that supports businesses and gets everyone here enjoying themselves.

“Just to be clear, this is not something that the council will run.

“It will be about attracting business and investment and encouraging those providers to run it themselves.”

The council previously highlighted The Ridings as a potential location for a bowling alley as it considered buying the shopping centre in 2022.

The authority eventually backed out of the purchase and it was taken over by businessman Zahid Iqbal.

Kevin Trickett, president of Wakefield Civic Society, previously called for the Debenhams store to be converted for leisure purposes.

Speaking in 2021 he said: “If there is no retailer willing to take on the building, then it might be time to think about dividing the building into smaller units or repurposing it in some way for some new use.

“That might be something exclusively associated with leisure – such as a bowling alley, cinema, live music space and so on, or it could mean converting the building into a mixed-use facility, something that is part leisure and part retail but with smaller boutique shops, for example.”