Hammerson has announced that Marks and Spencer (M&S), one of the UK’s leading retailers and Toca Social, a new social, dining and entertainment brand, are set to open at Bullring, Birmingham as part of a major repositioning of the estate.
The repositioning and repurposing adds to the diverse customer-proposition at Bullring and Grand Central, and introduces new tenant partners that will contribute to the vibrant retail, hospitality and leisure experiences for customers, in line with Hammerson’s strategy to ensure its destinations are vibrant evolving spaces where people and brands want to be. M&S and Toca Social are both due to open in 2023.
M&S’ location on the Lower and Mid-levels of Bullring benefits from high footfall from street level as well as from Grand Central and New Street rail stations. The new store will offer customers M&S’s fantastic range across Food, Clothing and Home products.
Above M&S will be a new experiential entertainment offering by Toca Social, the world's first interactive football and dining experience, combining immersive gaming football-based games and modern Americana-inspired cuisine. The brand recently launched its first venue at The O2 in London, boasting three bars, selfie booths, arcade machines and a Willy Wonka inspired dessert room.
The new Toca Social space at Bullring & Grand Central will be highly visible for any visitor and will boast immersive pitches where groups can socialise and play a series of football-based games enabled by innovative ball delivery and tracking technology.
Harry Badham, Chief Development & Asset Repositioning Officer at Hammerson, said, “Repurposing this important space at Bullring & Grand Central has given us an exceptional opportunity to create not only the latest store and food hall concept with one of the nation’s best loved retailers, but also to partner with one of the UK’s most exciting new immersive social and entertainment business.
'Together they will offer something completely new to Birmingham and our customers as we work towards expanding and diversifying the purpose of our estates.”
Alex Harman, Toca Social President, said, “Tova Social are excited to bring the world's first interactive football and dining experience to the UK's second largest city. Bullring is an iconic destination, and we are delighted to play our part in its repositioning towards social experiences.”
Hammerson’s flagship destination transformed Birmingham city centre when it was developed and continues to be at the heart of the city’s social, cultural and arts programme. Birmingham Weekender, B-Side Hip-Hop Festival, Pride and Bandstand Live were all a huge success this year and Bullring & Grand Central played a significant role to support these events.