THE WELLGATE Centre is in rude health and facing the future with optimism as it celebrates its 30th anniversary, manager John Morton said.

The shopping centre has seen many changes but is coping well, with the number of visitors rising.

Mr Morton acknowledged there is still room for improvement, with some empty shops needing to be filled, but shoppers are continuing to pour through the doors.

With new owners The Prudential taking a long-term view of their investment, there is plenty to look forward to, he said.

The manager said the “footfall” figure for February was 552,000, a rise of 15% over the same period last year and the highest for that month for five years.

Numbers have been rising since September, with the total for December up from 782,000 to 817,000.

Mr Morton said he is happy with those figures but efforts are being made to find tenants for units on the first and second levels.

The top level is doing well, he said, with the arrival of Iceland giving it a considerable boost.

He said, “My job is to bring in the shoppers and the retailers then have to attract them into their stores but it’s not quite as simple as that.

“We have good reports from certain retailers and not so good from others so we’re promoting their special offers on our website.

“Overall, though, I’m quite upbeat about things.”

Although the centre opened in 1978, Mr Morton took over in 1990 and was almost immediately faced with the loss to Riverside of the Wellgate’s “anchor” tenant, Tesco.

The supermarket occupied a large area on the upper floor and its withdrawal left a big hole.

Since then, there have been two refurbishments.

Tesco’s space is home to several smaller shops including Woolworths, Superdrug, Poundland, BBs coffee shop and the Officers Club.

“That’s the nature of retail centres and you just take it in your stride and carry on,” said Mr Morton.

The centre is asking people to help it celebrate its anniversary, with the chance of winning a family holiday to Turkey.

Mr Morton is inviting people to take pictures of themselves 30 years ago and today to the centre for display on the “Wellgate Winning Wall.”