{"id":167398,"date":"2025-06-08T10:56:15","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T10:56:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/167398\/"},"modified":"2025-06-08T10:56:15","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T10:56:15","slug":"this-is-what-stockport-has-been-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/167398\/","title":{"rendered":"‘This is what Stockport has been missing’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stockroom has opened in Merseyway Shopping Centre.\"StockroomStockroom has opened in Stockport town centre.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the trendy new place to be in Stockport. Opening its doors to the public for the first time on May 24, Stockroom is the town\u2019s new library, as well as a place for art, culture, events, families, and a caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

The opening weekend was celebrated with a packed schedule of events<\/a>, and hundreds of people popping through the doors to check out Stockport<\/a>\u2019s new cultural hub.<\/p>\n

But Stockroom is also playing a role in the town\u2019s massive regeneration, by bringing former shops back into use.<\/p>\n

The building is based in Merseyway Shopping Centre, spanning two floors of what was once a Mothercare and Topshop.<\/p>\n

What has replaced them could become a centre of culture for both Stockport and Greater Manchester.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis place is what Stockport has been missing,\u201d says Max Chandler, an events assistant at Stockroom.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old has signed up to be part of Stockroom\u2019s future, helping visitors during events in the new hub.<\/p>\n

\"MaxMax Chandler said Stockroom is just what the town centre needs.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cEveryone\u2019s very curious, a lot of people haven\u2019t seen the building or heard about it before, so they\u2019re coming in asking what it is, and having an explore.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s great, it\u2019s nice to get everyone together, we\u2019ve got things for everyone here, it\u2019s nice that we\u2019ve got a welcoming and inclusive space.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to say there was a lot of interest in the opening days of Stockroom opening.<\/p>\n

During a visit after the opening weekend, the Local Democracy Reporting Service found it to be busy with visitors.<\/p>\n

Families brought their children to see the new learning areas, while others were chatting over coffee, and some were using the space as a place to work.<\/p>\n

Stockport council<\/a> says there were more than 15,000 visitors over the opening weekend and May bank holiday Monday, and that Merseyway enjoyed its busiest week so far in 2025.<\/p>\n

Kris Overend is a Stockport resident who visited Stockroom just after the opening weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important for Stockport as a town centre to have a space like this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s connecting the wider community together, and putting Stockport back on the map and inviting other communities to come in and use the space.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"KrisKris Overend said Stockroom will bring more people to Stockport.<\/p>\n

Rachel Hall, the library manager at Stockroom, added: \u201cWe\u2019ve had a really warm embrace from everybody, lots of curious people exploring the space and seeing what we\u2019re about.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe life of it is going to make Stockport even more of a destination, and there\u2019s already so much happening, so it\u2019s nice to establish ourselves as part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stockroom has opened at a time when huge changes are taking place around Stockport.<\/p>\n

A short distance from Merseyway Shopping Centre, Stockport\u2019s transport interchange opened last year, with links to the railway station and calls for a future Metrolink extension<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are also plans to build around 8,000 new homes in the town centre<\/a> over the next 15 years, to help meet the huge demand for housing in the borough.<\/p>\n

\"StockroomStockroom was designed to be a place for everyone.<\/p>\n

Places like Stockroom are designed to help all of that, by bringing more people to Stockport, and offering a place which residents can enjoy all-year round.<\/p>\n

But it also plays an important role as the town\u2019s new library, especially with Central Library on Wellington Road being closed temporarily since May 12, for \u2018essential maintenance and improvement works\u2019.<\/p>\n

Funded by the government’s Future High Streets Fund, the project was initially expected to cost around \u00a314.5m, but the overall price of the scheme hit more than \u00a316m due to rising inflation, which Stockport council helped to finance.<\/p>\n

Lucy Harris brought her two children to Stockroom to see what all the fuss was about.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cI think this is fantastic, it\u2019s just what Stockport needs. It\u2019s great to see other families as well, it just makes it accessible for everyone, which is great.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to see this funding being spent so well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council leader Mark Roberts described the opening of Stockroom as a \u201ccelebration\u201d of Stockport itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cStockroom is going to be a place where ideas come to life and people connect – and a big part of Stockport\u2019s future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d encourage everyone to pop in, explore the space, and get involved – there\u2019s so much to discover, and something for absolutely everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coun Dan Oliver, the council\u2019s lead on culture, said Stockroom opening was a \u201cproud\u201d moment for the town.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy attracting new visitors and providing a welcoming space for everyone, it will play a key role in revitalising our town centre and supporting a thriving, connected community,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cStockroom is a celebration of local talent and a hub for creativity and I can\u2019t wait to see how local people make this space their own.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stockroom has opened in Merseyway Shopping Centre.Stockroom has opened in Stockport town centre. It\u2019s the trendy new place…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,1288,2622,2627,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-167398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-stockport","13":"tag-stockport-council","14":"tag-stockport-town-centre","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114647386393379915","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}