Giant Scottish shopping centre creates 100 jobs with dozen new openings

Over the last few months, The Centre in Livingston, West Lothian, has welcomed the arrival of a 90-seater Starbucks café, Aunty Anne’s, F.Hinds, XXXTRA and the first ArrowHeadz darts store in the country.

Plans for further openings before Christmas include Wingstop’s 4,780-square-foot restaurant, the Danish lifestyle brand Flying Tiger, Miniso, Cake Box and Pizza Dawgz. Marble Buffet is expected to open its 380-seater restaurant next summer, which will be the firm’s first site in a Scottish mall.

In addition to new openings, various retailers are expanding and relocating, including JD Sports, which will move from a 9,500 sq ft to a 14,800 sq ft prime location.

Retailers that have extended their leases include Lush, Las Iguanas, Foot Locker, Smiggle, Krispy Kreme, Deichmann, Menkind, The Celtic Shop and Subway.

The new arrivals will add to the line-up of more than 150 stores and restaurants at the shopping centre, which spans some one million square feet and attracts 14.8 million visitors a year from around the country.

Simon Eatough, director at LCP UK, part of M Core and asset manager of The Centre, said: “This is a really exciting time for us at The Centre, Livingston as we welcome 12 new retailers to our existing, wide mix of great places to shop and dine out, and create over 100 new jobs for the local area.

“The new openings allow us to strengthen our commitment to revitalising our offering at the shopping centre and provide something for everyone who visits us.

“We will continue to add even more new global brands to our portfolio to ensure we remain firmly on the Scottish map as the number one shopping centre to visit, with further announcements coming soon,” he added.

LCP UK recently announced major expansion plans into the leisure sector with the opening of Hollywood Bowl at the site in 2026.