The Core Shopping Centre set to become student accommodation

Leeds locals reflect on plans to transform The Core Shopping Centre on the Headrow into student accommodation.

Transcript

00:00 The post-modern appearance of the core, formerly the Headrow shopping centre on the site of

00:06 the former Schofields department store, is set to be transformed. Plans for new shops

00:12 and student flats have been approved, but what do you make of the proposed changes?

00:16 To be fair, it's not a building I've ever gone into, so to me it's a bit of a sad reflection.

00:23 I know various units have closed down, so student accommodation, I mean we've got an

00:28 increasing student population which is great because that brings in money to the city,

00:33 so that's always a good thing. We've got an awful lot of student accommodation being built,

00:37 but I think there's still a lot of space needed. There are many different shopping centres in

00:42 Leeds, so I don't think that if we erase the core it would be such a dramatic thing.

00:48 I've been to other shopping centres, but I've not actually been in here,

00:51 but I would say if they're making it a student apartment then it makes sense because

00:55 I'm a student and I know how students face accommodation issues and it's quite bad

01:00 for students coming into Leeds. There are a lot of housing crises for students,

01:05 you know, so it makes sense if they want to renovate it into an apartment for students.

01:10 If it's able to bring people right into the city centre, regenerate what is

01:14 pretty much a flagging area. Personally, I don't think I've got any issues.

01:19 I think this is a good idea to add more student accommodation because there are a lot of student

01:25 in Leeds and finding an accommodation is hard, but finding shops is not that hard,

01:31 so I think this is a good idea. I use the gym that's up there quite often,

01:34 normally with my mates, so I started going there. If it's going to be student housing then

01:38 I don't really see it being such a bad idea then because there's not a lot of student housing

01:43 around in the city centre itself, and as someone that's doing uni next year it kind of seems

01:48 something beneficial as well. I mean there's other gyms around I can go to, but if it's

01:54 shops downstairs and housing above, it doesn't seem like a bad idea to me to be honest.