The Rock welcomes over 170,000 visitors in first three days of trading

Date published: 20 July 2010

The first three days of trading at The Rock have been declared a triumph with over 70,000 people attending the Friday launch day celebrations and another 100,000 visitors over the weekend.

A number of retailers were reported to have smashed trading figures by up to 300 per cent and heaped praise onto the ‘excellent’ opening event at The Rock.

Primark recorded over 2,000 people in the queue waiting for the store to open at 11am. Baguette Express stated it was their best ever launch day with the most covers taken.

A barometer of the public’s positive feeling came through Miller Homes’ sales with over £1.2m of apartments at The Rock selling in the first few days. Over 10 per cent of the development is now sold.

David Laycock, Centre Director at The Rock said: “We were aiming for 50,000 people on launch day and we far exceeded this which was a fantastic achievement. Months of planning went into making the opening celebrations a spectacle that everyone in Bury would remember and feel proud to be a part of.

“With such high a number of visitors we did experience a few issues within the car park, which led to a delay in parking for some people. We attempted to resolve this as quickly as possible by deploying extra car park staff to help direct drivers and we will be reviewing signage and traffic flow systems as a result. The Rock management team is eager that these teething problems do not overshadow what is a fantastic addition to the town centre, an achievement which has provided exemplary shopping and leisure facilities to Bury and the surrounding areas.”