Retail & Leisure

Wakefield District offers retailers a variety of sites and sizes, including our two City centre shopping centres. Trinity Walk and The Ridings in the City centre offer a mix of well-known brands and independent stores, Junction 32 at Castleford offers household names at a discount and Carlton Lanes, in the centre of Castleford is the prime shopping centre for Castleford.

With six markets across the District, often used as an incubated space for a new retail business to grow, Wakefield has long held a reputation as a shopping destination. Retailers often move to larger premises, and open additional outlets, to support shoppers who come from across West Yorkshire and beyond.

Our flexible talent pool includes potential employees with experience in the sector at all levels, and a passion for customer service and delivering excellence. Local Education providers offer apprenticeships and training to upskill staff across the sector, allowing retail business to grow their own talent.

Shopping habits have changed, with the growth of e-commerce. Wakefield’s unrivalled connectivity and availability of suitable competitively priced locations for warehousing and distribution has seen businesses such as Next, TJX and Amazon locate and grow their operations in the District.