What's Next for the Guildbourne Centre?

What next for the Guildbourne Centre?

Worthing’s troubled shopping centre is heading to auction with auction figures suggesting a guide price in the region of £1.5 million. On paper, that looks surprisingly cheap. But the figures point to a more complicated story involving vacant space, a large ground rent, existing leases, recent repair works and the changing role of town-centre shopping.

For many Worthing residents, the Guildbourne Centre has long felt like a place waiting for a second chance.

It sits in the middle of town, close to Montague Street, Warwick Street, Chapel Road, the seafront and Worthing railway station. With shops, offices and residential accommodation above, it should, in theory, be one of the most useful and valuable sites in Worthing town centre.

So when the Guildbourne Centre appeared in a Savills auction catalogue with a guide price understood to be around £1.5 million, the obvious question was: why so low?

At first glance, the figure looks remarkable. Savills describes the Guildbourne Centre as a substantial mixed-use town-centre investment, made up of a shopping centre, a six-storey office building and residential accommodation which has been sold off. The listing says the investment is let at £738,365 a year and that there is an opportunity to add value by re-letting 33,912 sq ft of vacant accommodation. Savills also states a gross initial yield of 49.22% based on the guide price.

In ordinary language, that means the annual rent looks extremely high compared with the suggested auction guide.

But the headline figure does not tell the whole story.

The Guildbourne is not being sold as a simple freehold building. Savills says the property is leasehold, held for 150 years from March 1972, at a ground rent of £230,572 a year. That one figure changes the picture sharply. Before allowing for repairs, empty units, service charges, management costs, professional fees, borrowing costs or tax, that ground rent alone removes a substantial part of the stated rental income.

That helps explain why the apparent bargain may not be quite what it first seems. The buyer would not simply be collecting £738,365 a year and sitting back. They would be taking on a complex town-centre estate with a large fixed annual ground rent, vacant space, existing tenants, residential interests above, and a building that has already required substantial repair and maintenance work.

Savills also makes clear that auction guide prices are not valuations and are not predictions of the final sale price. They are indications of where the reserve price may be set, and can change before auction day. In other words, the guide price does not necessarily tell us what the Guildbourne is “worth”. It tells us where the auction process may begin.

The bigger question is whether the low guide reflects the decline of town-centre shopping, problems with the building itself, or both.

The answer appears to be both, but with an important distinction. It would be too simple to say Worthing town centre is dead. The town still has strong surrounding streets, nearby national names including Marks & Spencer, Waterstones, and Costa Coffee, and a seafront and hospitality offer that continue to bring people into the centre. Savills itself emphasises the Guildbourne’s central position, close to the town’s principal retail and commercial areas.

The problem is more specific. The Guildbourne has struggled to turn that central location into a strong, modern retail destination.

That will not surprise many residents. The centre has often felt less like a destination in its own right and more like a cut-through between the car park and the rest of town. That is a serious problem for any shopping centre. Retailers need passing trade, visibility and a reason for people to linger. A centre that people mostly pass through is much harder to fill with strong tenants.

There is also a wider retail backdrop. Across the UK, physical retail has been through years of pressure from online shopping, rising costs and changing consumer habits. There are some signs of recovery in parts of the market, with recent reporting suggesting renewed investor interest in some retail assets and falling national vacancy rates, but the recovery is uneven. Shopping centres and secondary town-centre schemes still have to work much harder than they once did.

That matters for the Guildbourne. The issue is not simply whether people still shop in Worthing. The question is whether enough retailers now want this type of space, in this type of centre, on terms that make the building viable.

The current tenant mix underlines that challenge. Savills says tenants include B&M Retail and Pembroke Financial Services. B&M gives the centre an important anchor and a recognisable national name, but one anchor store does not make the whole centre secure. The rest of the space still has to work for modern occupiers, whether that means retail, services, offices, leisure, health, food and drink, community use or a mix of all of these.

This is where the Guildbourne becomes more than a story about shops.

Above the retail space is a six-storey office building. Savills describes it as historically occupied by a single major tenant and capable of refurbishment or reconfiguration. If that office space can be filled, it could help bring more workers into this part of town during the week. That would support cafes, shops and other town-centre businesses. If it remains partly empty, the opposite happens: less daytime activity, less spending and less life around the centre.

The residential element also matters. The Guildbourne is not an isolated shopping mall on an out-of-town site. People live above and around it. Any major change has to consider access, disruption, safety, servicing, noise, parking, public routes and the practical reality of working around existing homes and businesses.

That makes redevelopment complicated. It is easy to say the Guildbourne should be knocked down, rebuilt, opened up, turned into homes, modernised, or completely reimagined. It is much harder to do it.

A buyer would be taking on existing leases, existing occupiers, vacant accommodation, repair obligations and a long leasehold structure. Savills also states that the property has not been internally inspected by Savills, and that prospective purchasers must rely on their own enquiries and the legal pack. For any buyer, that is a clear warning: do your homework before bidding.

Sharon Clarke, former Worthing Town Centre Manager, said that structure may shape who is likely to bid.

“The sale will include taking on the leases that are already in place so likely it will be an investment company that will bid at the auction,” she said.

“Investment companies will look for the best return for the least investment and risk so I fear Worthing will not see much of a change from this news.”

That is one of the central concerns. If the Guildbourne is bought mainly as an income-producing investment, residents may not see dramatic change quickly. A new owner could focus on collecting rent, managing existing tenants and gradually filling vacant units, rather than attempting a major rethink of the site.

But Ms Clarke also said the sale could be a rare opportunity for Worthing.

“This is a great opportunity for the town, and as the Council own the land The Guildbourne is built on, it would be good to see them considering bidding so they can drive the changes residents would like to see.”

That raises an important public-interest question. Should the future of the Guildbourne be left entirely to the private market, or should the council consider taking a more active role in shaping what happens next?

Savills’ public listing describes the property being auctioned as a long leasehold investment, rather than a straightforward freehold sale. The listing says the lease runs for 150 years from March 1972 at a ground rent of £230,572 per year. A council asset spreadsheet published on the Adur & Worthing Councils website lists Worthing Borough Council as owning the freehold interest in the Guildbourne Centre site.

Radio Worthing has asked Worthing Borough Council to confirm what outcome it would like to see for the site. No response had been received at the time of publication, Radio Worthing will update this article if a response is received.

There are arguments on both sides.

Council involvement could, in theory, allow the site to be shaped around wider town-centre priorities rather than short-term investment return. That might mean better public routes, more active frontages, improved office space, better use of vacant units, stronger links to the surrounding streets, and a plan that reflects what residents actually want from the centre of Worthing.

But public ownership or intervention would not remove the financial risks. The council would still have to consider the cost of acquisition, repairs, management, lease obligations, redevelopment risk, borrowing, opportunity cost and the possibility that the site needs more money spent on it before it produces better results.

For a private buyer, the same basic problem applies. The Guildbourne has obvious potential, but potential is not the same as profit. The price paid at auction would only be the start. The real cost would come afterwards: refurbishing space, finding tenants, maintaining an ageing building, managing public areas and deciding whether to pursue piecemeal improvement or a more ambitious redevelopment.

One possible future is that a specialist property investor buys it, accepts that the Guildbourne is no longer a conventional shopping centre, and gradually turns it into a broader mixed-use town-centre block. That could mean keeping B&M and other ground-floor shops, filling smaller units with local services, food, health, leisure or community uses, and making the offices above work again.

That may be the most realistic route. The high street is no longer only about shopping. Successful town centres increasingly depend on a mix of reasons to visit: work, food, services, leisure, health, community uses, events and homes. The Guildbourne already has some of that mix. The challenge is to make it coherent rather than accidental.

A second possibility is a more ambitious redevelopment. On paper, the site is in a highly strategic position. It is close to Union Place, the main shopping streets and the seafront. More homes in and around the town centre could support local businesses by increasing the number of people living within walking distance. More office workers could help weekday trade. Better frontages on Ann Street and Chatsworth Road could make the whole area feel safer, more active and less like the back of a shopping centre.

But wholesale redevelopment would not be simple. The Guildbourne contains residential accommodation, existing commercial occupiers, office space, public access routes and a leasehold structure. It is not an empty site waiting for a clean rebuild. Any major redevelopment would involve legal, financial, planning and practical complications.

A third possibility is less positive: a buyer takes it on, finds the costs and complications greater than expected, and progress stalls. That is the risk with assets like this. The low guide price may attract interest, but the real cost is not just the auction bid. It is the money needed afterwards.

For Worthing residents, the main thing to understand is that the guide price does not mean the Guildbourne is worthless, and it does not mean Worthing town centre has failed.

It means the market sees a difficult asset with high potential but high risk.

The Guildbourne has three things going for it: location, scale and existing income. It also has three major problems: a difficult retail format, substantial vacant space and the cost of keeping an ageing mixed-use building fit for purpose.

That makes its future finely balanced.

Handled well, the sale could be a turning point. The centre could become less of a tired shopping mall and more of a useful town-centre hub, combining shops, offices, services, homes and community space.

Handled badly, or bought by someone without the money or patience to deal with the building properly, it could continue to drift.

For Worthing, the stakes are higher than one auction lot. The Guildbourne sits in a part of town that affects how people move between the car parks, Chapel Road, Warwick Street, Montague Street and the seafront. Its offices affect weekday activity. Its shops affect the feel of the centre. Its residential blocks affect the people who already live there.

The auction may decide who owns the lease. But the bigger question is who gets to shape the future of one of Worthing town centre’s most important and most difficult sites?