 The new Red Mall has been officially blessed |
The Gateshead MetroCentre is once again the largest shopping and leisure complex in Europe. It comes as the complex opens its new �85m Red Mall, home to 23 new stores.
The centre says the Red Mall will create 1,000 new jobs. More than 1,000 extra car parking spaces have also been built.
The Definitive Guide to Shopping Centres, says the 324-shop complex has now reclaimed the title as Europe largest from Kent's Blue Water centre.
The Mall was built by construction firm Sir Robert McAlpine, and will be officially opened by the Mayor of Gateshead, Pat Ronan.
'Bless this space'
It was given an official blessing by the centre's chaplain, the Reverend June Robson, in a ceremony last week attended by construction workers and MetroCentre staff.
Rev Robson said: "When we bless a place, we are praising God for the people who act in this space and are asking him to bless them and what they do there."
The MetroCentre currently employs 6,000 staff and this figure will rise to 7,000 when the new complex opens.
Its opening will increase the MetroCentre's retail space to more than 1.7m sq ft.
The independent Definitive Guide to Shopping Centres lists the next largest shopping complex as the Bluewater centre in Kent which spreads over 1.5m sq ft.
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