The Land Securities owned West 12 Shopping Centre has added two new entertainment destinations in the past couple of months, the Lost Lagoon, and the Sherlock Homes themed The Game is Now, as it enters a phase of consultation about its future.
The centre, which has refreshed itself since the Morrisson’s closed in 2016, saw the opening of The Game is Now in December 2018. The Sherlock Homes themed escape rooms has full approval from the creators of the BBC show, and features newly recorded content from actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Martin Freeman, and Mark Gatiss, the last of which was deeply involved in the project.
The rooms are in a specially refurbished suite in three formerly vacant retail units, with customers entering through a fake opticians – cunningly named Doyle’s after the author of the Sherlock Holmes books.
The Game is Now will create 65 jobs, according to Time Run, the company that created it, as well as providing extra footfall for the centre, with a capacity of 600 a day.
The Captain Morgan Lost Lagoon in another part of the centre is also part of West 12’s plan to grow revenues for tenants. It provides a caribbean themed entertainment in a disused part of the centre’s basement. These two, added to the aready popular Dark Sphere wagaming venue which regularly hosts up to 400 enthusiasts will bring crowds to the centre who will use the shops, bars and restaurants there, hope LandSec.
Added to this, West 12 has embarked on a consultation about a major refurbishment of the centre which could see a significant reworking of the internal spaces to complement the doubling in size of the existing Lidl, and also see the addition of commercial office space, new homes and new public and green spaces.
The owners are thought to be working towards a planning application in summer 2019.
