Drake Circus Shopping Centre
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| Location | Plymouth, UK |
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| Coordinates | 50°22′20″N 4°08′15″W / 50.37222°N 4.13750°WCoordinates: 50°22′20″N 4°08′15″W / 50.37222°N 4.13750°W |
| Address | 1 Charles Street, |
| Opening date | 5 October 2006 |
| Developer |
P&O Estates, Morgan Stanley Bank |
| Management | DTZ |
| Owner | British Land (since January 2011) |
| Architect | Chapman Taylor |
| No. of stores and services | 66 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 8 |
| Total retail floor area | 425,000 square feet (39,484 m2) |
| No. of floors | 3 |
| Parking | 1270 |
| Website | www |
Drake Circus Shopping Centre is a 425,000 square feet (39,484 m2) covered shopping mall in the centre of Plymouth, England, which opened in October 2006.
The new building was designed by London-based architects Chapman Taylor and built by Bovis Lend Lease. Situated behind the ruined Charles Church, preserved as the city's civilian war memorial, the building provoked a mixed reception. Just after it opened, the shopping centre won the inaugural Carbuncle Cup "for crimes against architecture", as the worst new building in the UK. However, in 2007 it won two retail industry national awards, one of which was the Retail Week magazine's "Shopping Location of the Year". Also in 2007, the centre's management introduced a code of conduct which, like one the Bluewater centre introduced in 2005, banned hooded tops and baseball caps.
The term 'circus' as used here refers to an open space, usually circular, where a number of roads meet. Drake Circus was originally a large oval roundabout built in the early 20th century at the junction of four main roads and several minor ones. The roundabout consisted of Edwardian buildings housing shops, and from 1937 its south end carried the "Guinness Clock", which was visible to people travelling up Old Town Street and was a landmark in the city of the time.
The circus survived the Plymouth Blitz of World War II relatively intact, but it was demolished in 1966-7 as part of the Plan for Plymouth, and was replaced by a new open roundabout to the north. Around this time the lower section of the main road to off this new roundabout was renamed Drake Circus. A two-level shopping centre with open malls and a large C&A store was built, partly over the site of the original circus. It opened in 1971 and was also named Drake Circus.
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