New Strand Shopping Centre

The New Strand Shopping Centre, known locally simply as The Strand, is the main shopping centre in Bootle, Merseyside, England. Opened in 1968, it was part of a larger Bootle redevelopment during this period, which was also complemented by the establishment of the Girobank headquarters in nearby Netherton. The site occupied by the shopping centre was formerly Victorian houses, in streets that were named after American states. The decision on naming the shopping centre was done so via a public competition, with an 11-year-old school girl submitting the winning entry of "New Strand" in 1965. The Strand opened at a cost of £5 million in 1968, in the centenary year of Bootle receiving its municipal charter. The centre was extended between 1997 and 1998 and completed in November the same year to provide additional retail outlets, as well as additional car-parking facilities and improved transportation to the centre. The Strand centre is widely known for the 1993 abduction of toddler James Bulger, who was taken from the centre by two ten-year-old boys and later murdered. In October 2014, it was announced that London-based Ellandi had purchased the shopping centre, yet it was sold to Sefton Council just two and a half years later. In 2025, the council approved the first phase of a £20 million regeneration for the shopping centre, to incorporate new community spaces following partial demolition.