Eccles is an historic town within the city of Salford. It dates back to the 14th century when it grew up around St Mary’s Parish Church and is perhaps best known for the famous Eccles Cake.
Eccles has excellent transport links, a strong heritage story, an emerging independent café and retail sector, an active community and voluntary sector and good education provision. However, Eccles has found recent years hard, particularly in terms of job opportunities, housing that doesn’t meet people’s needs, empty shops in the town centre and an overall lack of investment.
It’s now time for change
The Eccles Vision was launched in December 2022 following extensive consultation with the local community, businesses, employers, community groups, schools and voluntary sector – people of all ages and backgrounds with different opinions and ideas about their town.
The three main themes of Eccles Vision are:
- For Eccles to be a place to eat, meet, play and work. This is now a great opportunity for Eccles to reinvent itself to give people a reason to spend time in the town centre.
- To build on its roots both in terms of heritage and the strong sense of community pride as the town grows into the future.
- To create more connections through its excellent transport links and the potential this brings in attracting new residents. This means homes that work better for a wider range of people, a stronger economy and a bright future.
Watch a video of the Eccles Vision
Download the Eccles Vision (Adobe PDF format, 3.4mb)
Latest news
We secured Capital Regeneration Project funding from the UK Government to purchase and demolish Eccles Shopping Centre and the multi-storey car park. Demolition will be done in phases, and phase 1 started in January 2025 - see the map below for details of the area affected.
During this period, the rest of the town centre (including Church Street, Boothsway and The Mall) remains open for business as usual.
This will be the start of major change that will transform the town centre. It is a very exciting opportunity but we know that there could be some challenging moments along the way.
Change won’t happen overnight but we are committed to working with local communities to create a town centre that works for existing residents and attracts new people to build a new future for Eccles.
Map of the demolition
Photos of Eccles
What are the immediate plans for Eccles?
The immediate plan is to demolish phase 1 of the shopping centre together with the disused multi-storey car park. You can see the outline of phase 1 on the map on this page. The rest of shopping centre will remain operating for the foreseeable future (at least three years).
Eccles Shopping Centre is in a state of disrepair and the multi-storey car park has been closed for a number of years due to safety issues.
During the 2022 Eccles Vision consultation people overwhelmingly told us they wanted to see bold changes in the town centre. The shopping centre and multi-storey car park were described as “unloved, downtrodden and left behind”. The demolition and redevelopment of Eccles Shopping Centre and the disused multi-storey car park were viewed as a priority.
The demolition will give us an opportunity to create a more vibrant town centre that meets the needs of existing residents as well as attracting new people to build a new future for Eccles.
Work has already begun on what is a complicated site with lots of moving parts. Work up until March 2025 was largely behind the scenes, but you will start to notice more activity on site from April 2025 onwards.
November 2024 to March 2025 - work has been taking place in the empty units within phase one, including the multi-storey car park and market hall. These works involved removing fixtures and fittings, carrying out necessary survey works and utility disconnections to prepare for the demolition. Hoardings were erected around the site in January.
April 2025 to November 2025 - demolition of Phase 1 of the Shopping Centre (including the market hall) and Multi Storey Car Park is taking place.
The purchase of Eccles Shopping Centre and demolition of phase 1 has been funded by UK Government.
Through this funding programme, Salford City Council was awarded a total of £5.4m as a catalyst to regenerate the town centre and secure a brighter future for Eccles.
How will this affect the daily life of Eccles Shopping Centre?
Plans for the future
Watch this space…
While change is starting to take place, we’re taking the opportunity to showcase the creativity and skills of the people of Eccles. Artwork made by five local groups will be displayed on the hoardings around the demolition site. The eye-catching large-scale artworks, from groups including primary school children and a group of older residents, will tell a story of how proud the people of Eccles feel about their town.
In summary
Change will not happen overnight.
This will be a long process but we are committed to working with local communities to create a town centre that meets the needs of existing residents as well as attracting new people to ensure the town continues to thrive and is a place of opportunity that has a bright future.
Get in touch
You can email eccles@salford.gov.uk or call the main council phone number 0161 793 2500 (please choose the option 'Other enquiries') or you can call in to the Eccles Gateway.
If you would like email updates sign up below.
Downloadable documents
- Eccles Vision (Adobe PDF format, 3.4mb)
- Application to the levelling up fund round 2 - Eccles town centre transformation (Adobe PDF format, 479kb)
- Eccles Town Centre news update - April 2025 (Adobe PDF format, 2.2mb)
If you are unable to view documents of these types, our downloads page provides links to viewing software.
This page was last updated on 31 March 2025