Bare £27m railway station 'an embarrassment'

Caribe Coffee is the only retail business operating inside the refurbished Sunderland Station

A city centre railway station has been branded an "embarrassment" after becoming home to just one business since its £27m redevelopment.

The glass-fronted entrance to Sunderland Station opened in December 2023 after £16m in government funding was secured to complete the project.

But the city council's opposition leader, Liberal Democrat Paul Edgeworth, said the largely empty space was a "massive let down" and the local authority needed to force operator Northern Rail to improve it.

The council said it had been "pressing" the company to let the retail units, while Northern said it was working with agents to "attract the right tenants".

"Whilst the world's smallest coffee shop is better than nothing, this station building is still a massive embarrassment for our city," Edgeworth said.

"Labour's council bosses hailed it as 'stunning and ambitious' when it opened, but in reality it is a massive let down and a stain our city centre - a cold, uninviting, empty shell where toilets, escalators and doors are permanently broken."

The new entrance area was branded "disappointing" and "bare" by users when it opened

Labour council leader Michael Mordey said the local authority was not responsible for letting the units or managing the station.

"We have however been working with and pressing Northern Trains to see the station's retail units let and the station animated," he said.

"I am clear there are improvements that can be made, but the station we have today is 100 times better than what was there before."

'On the up'

Northern said it was in regular contact with the council and shares its ambition to see "more life brought into the station building".

"We've been working with local and national agents to market the retail units and attract the right tenants," a spokesperson said.

"Like many high streets across the country, Sunderland has a high number of vacant retail units which makes it a challenging market."

The company said the largest of its three units was currently under offer and it had introduced new initiatives such as pop-up markets and new vending to increase footfall in the station.

Caribe Coffee, which is based in Morpeth, opened its kiosk in the station on 27 September.

The company's business development manager Quincy Docherty was responsible for finding the location and said he chose the site because Sunderland was "on the up".

He admitted the station "could do with more businesses" but said he believed the company would still "make it work".