Shopping centre go-kart track approved

Work at Eldon Square is expected to start "immediately"

Plans for a go-kart track and other new facilities at a Newcastle shopping centre have been approved.

The £65m proposals for Eldon Square will also bring new leisure, culture and dining facilities to the city centre site.

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the proposals at a planning meeting on Friday.

Work is expected to start on the scheme “immediately”, with claims the redevelopment will create 560 jobs.

Under the proposals, two new venues will be added to Eldon Square, the council said.

The first, set to take up the vacant top floor of the former Debenhams department store, will see venues providing food, socialising, art, cultural entertainment and music performance.

The second will be based across part of the centre including the vacant former Eldon Leisure Centre, with a national operator hoping to bring indoor sports and entertainment aimed at families.

This would include an “amusement centre” and indoor motorised electric go-karting.

The proposals, first revealed in December, were brought forward after the closure of big-name retailers, including Debenhams, left thousands of square feet in the shopping centre empty.

Speaking after the meeting, the city council’s director of growth and investment Michelle Percy said: “Since the pandemic and changes to retail, city centres have been on a journey of evolution.

“This £65m of new investment in Eldon Square is proof of the diversification of the city centre."