{{distinguish|High Cross, Leicestershire}} {{Use British English|date=November 2024}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}} {{Infobox shopping mall | name = Highcross Leicester | logo = Highcross Leicester logo.jpeg | image = Highcross Leicester.jpg | image_width = | caption = The interior of part of the covered extension | location = [[Leicester]], England | address = 5 Shires Lane | coordinates = {{Coord|52|38|11.00|N|1|8|8.00|W|display=inline,title}} | opening_date = 1991 (extension opened 4 September 2008) | closing_date = | developer = [[Hammerson]]<br />Hermes Real Estate | manager = | owner = | architect = [[Foreign Office Architects]] (Highcross extension) | number_of_stores = 140 | number_of_anchors = 1 | floor_area = {{cvt|110,000|sqm}} | floors = 2 (up to 4 in department stores) | parking = 3000 spaces | website = {{url|highcrossleicester.com}} | footnotes = }} '''Highcross Leicester''' is a shopping centre in [[Leicester]], England. It was opened as '''The Shires''' in 1991 to supplement the [[Haymarket Shopping Centre]], also since re-developed. It was built on a central location within the city centre on Eastgates and High Street. Frontages of buildings that were demolished were retained and new external construction was in a 'neo-Victorian' vernacular. An extension opened in 1994, with a frontage on to Church Gate. A further large extension opened in 2008, when the entire centre was renamed Highcross Leicester. Highcross Leicester contains over 100 shops, with a range of both large and smaller units, including branches of the department stores [[John Lewis & Partners]]. There are also 40 restaurants and cafés, a Showcase Cinema de Lux and two large car parks.
==The Shires becomes Highcross Leicester== The most recent extension, known as Shires West during the planning and early construction phases, doubles the retail space available. This extension lies between the former Shires and the [[A594 road (Leicester)|inner ring-road]]. It includes a John Lewis department store and a [[Cinema de Lux]], the only multiplex cinema in the city centre. There are also two new public squares, residential apartments, a [[bus stop|bus interchange]] and a further 2000-space car park on the opposite side of the ring road, linked by a glass footbridge, which replaces one of the earlier Shires car parks that was demolished to make way for the new extension. Other new tenants include designer fashion brands [[G-Star Raw|G-star]], [[Lacoste]], [[Hugo Boss]] and [[Zara (clothing)|Zara]], and there is also an [[Apple Store]] . Thirteen new restaurants and cafés signed up to open in the new centre. <ref>{{Citation|last=Cornish |first=Jenny |title=Thirteen restaurants and cafes signed up for Highcross |newspaper=Leicester Mercury |date=19 July 2008 |url=http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/diIsplayNode.jsp?nodeId=132943&command=displayContent&sourceNode=132546&contentPK=21115498 }}{{dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The extension makes Highcross Leicester the largest shopping centre in the [[East Midlands]].
The Showcase Cinema de Lux and John Lewis parts of the centre mark the UK début of architecture firm [[Foreign Office Architects]]. The cinema is covered in a slightly buckled, stainless steel cladding, while the department store features two layers of glass, each with a swirling fabric design from John Lewis's archives, allowing light in and a view out, but obscuring the interior from the outside. The use of a fabric pattern recognises Leicester's past as a textile-producing city. <ref>{{Citation | last = Woodman | first = Ellis | title = Foreign Office Architects: No, it's not a Guggenheim – it's a John Lewis | newspaper = The Daily Telegraph | date = 3 May 2008 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/05/03/bafoa103.xml | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080506173812/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/05/03/bafoa103.xml | url-status = dead | archive-date = 6 May 2008 }}</ref>
An open day was held on Sunday, 1 June 2008 to show the people around the new development. More than a thousand people attended. The newly extended and refurbished shopping centre opened to the public on 4 September 2008 with over 125,000 visitors and over a million visitors in its first two weeks. The new extension cost £350 million to construct and has been the largest regeneration project in the city for many years. <ref>{{Citation |title = Highcross hits one million visitor mark |newspaper = Leicester Mercury |date = 18 September 2008 |url = http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Highcross-hits-million-visitor-mark/article-336946-detail/article.html |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090608051233/http://www.thisisleicestershire.co.uk/news/Highcross-hits-million-visitor-mark/article-336946-detail/article.html |archive-date = 8 June 2009 |df = dmy-all }}</ref>
===Naming controversies=== On 14 July 2006, it was announced that the entire centre would be renamed the Highcross Quarter, relating to a Highcross that used to stand in what is now Highcross Street.<ref>{{Citation | title = Goodbye Shires... Hello highcross! | newspaper = Leicester Mercury | date = 14 June 2006 }}</ref> This received a mixed reaction, with criticism directed in particular at the use of the word "quarter" as opposed to "centre". <ref>{{Citation | title =Highcross is not bad – but is it a quarter? | newspaper = Leicester Mercury | date = 14 June 2006 }}</ref>
On 19 July 2007, the principal owners of the development, [[Hammerson]], announced that they had decided to change the new name for the centre to '''Highcross Leicester'''. <ref>{{Citation | title = A perfect place for shoppers | newspaper = Leicester Mercury | date = 19 July 2007 }}</ref> On 23 July 2007, the ''[[Leicester Mercury]]'' reported that the latest name change had been the result of a year-long dispute <ref>{{cite press release |title = Big Business Hammerson Plc commences an audacious... |publisher = highcrossquarter.com |date = 21 June 2007 |url = http://highcrossquarter.com/resources_press_releases.html |access-date = 12 August 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090531121622/http://highcrossquarter.com/resources_press_releases.html |archive-date = 31 May 2009 |url-status = dead |df = dmy-all }}</ref> with a local [[coven]] of [[witch]]es, who pointed out that "High Cross Quarter" is the name of a high point or major sabbat in the [[wicca]]n calendar, and registered five <ref>{{cite press release |title = Domain Name Dispute Case |publisher = highcrossquarter.com |date = 19 June 2007 |url = http://highcrossquarter.com/resources_press_releases-2.html |access-date = 12 August 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110711165312/http://highcrossquarter.com/resources_press_releases-2.html |archive-date = 11 July 2011 |url-status = dead |df = dmy-all }}</ref> internet [[domain name]]s relating to the name. Hammerson refused to comment on the dispute, and claimed that the name change was to "give it a stronger identity for customers and raise the profile not only of the development but also the city." <ref>{{Citation | title = Witches force shopping centre to change name | newspaper = Leicester Mercury | date = 23 July 2007 }}</ref>
''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' reported on 25 July 2007 that the Highcross Leicester developers had their offer to buy the domain names rejected. <ref>{{Citation | last = Adams | first = Stephen | title = Victory for witches in £350m shops fight | newspaper = The Daily Telegraph | date = 25 July 2007 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1558352/Victory-for-witches-in-andpound350m-shops-fight.html | archive-url = https://archive.today/20130505053657/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1558352/Victory-for-witches-in-andpound350m-shops-fight.html | url-status = dead | archive-date = 5 May 2013 }}</ref> Despite Hammerson saying they were no longer interested in the ''highcrossquarter'' domain names for the renamed Highcross Leicester development as the name had now "evolved", the ''Telegraph'' reported that Hammerson had escalated the matter all the way to the [[World Intellectual Property Organization]] (WIPO) in [[Geneva]] where it was seeking a ruling on ownership of the highcrossquarter.com domain name. On 30 August 2007, the WIPO ruled against Hammerson's complaint. <ref> Shires (GP) Limited v. Mel Gordon (Leics Techs), [http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/case.jsp?case_id=11327 Case No. D2007-0866], WIPO </ref>
==See also== *[[Haymarket Shopping Centre]]
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category|Highcross Leicester}} *[http://www.highcrossleicester.com/ Highcross Leicester]
{{Shopping centres in East Midlands}} {{Authority control}}
[[Category:Shopping centres in Leicestershire]] [[Category:Tourist attractions in Leicestershire]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Leicester]] [[Category:Shopping malls established in 1991]]