Major Bell Green shopping development approved after years

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Talks to regenerate Riley Square in Bell Green have been ongoing for years



Plans to regenerate Coventry's Riley Square shopping precinct have been given the green light by Coventry City Council, years after first being announced. Talks about the fate of the run-down Bell Green shopping precinct have been ongoing since 2016.

Developers and Coventry City Council confirmed to CoventryLive that full approval has been given to the plans. They will see the demolition of Joseph Latham House, the removal of canopies around the shops, new shop frontages and the opening of the inward-facing precinct.

An injection of cash and investment has long been promised to the community in Bell Green, and in that time, parts of Riley Square have fallen into disrepair, and footfall has reduced. There are now a number of empty and boarded up retail units.

CoventryLive first revealed in 2015 that Coventry City Council was looking to sell off its leasehold for Riley Square to cash in on unwanted assets against a background of budget cuts. In 2016, we reported that a mystery developer was in talks with Coventry City Council over buying the leasehold of Riley Square, as they looked to invest millions.

Described as "problematic" at the time by council bosses, talks between Coventry City Council and potential developers continued for two years. This carried on until 2017 when it was announced that Innovative Retail Development (IRD) would take over the site.

In October 2020, we interviewed developers Innovative Retail Development (IRD), who told us: "Residents are very enthusiastic and a little bit sceptical because they've been told for so long that something will happen. The square will be returned to its former popularity."

Coventry Council have now confirmed the Riley Square regeneration plans were granted on February 14, 2022. Innovative Retail Development told us they are pulling together a schedule of work so things can begin.

Details of the upcoming works on Coventry City Council's planning portal state: "Refurbishment of the Riley Square Shopping Precinct to include the installation of replacement shopfronts (including new roller shutters); removal of existing canopies; extension of Units 11, 13, 15, 59-67, 91 and 93 to create additional floorspace from the infilling of the undercrofts; a new site wide lighting scheme; associated landscaping and the demolition of Joseph Latham House (including ground floor retail units) and Unit 41."

You can view the approved planning application FUL/2021/2093 on the council portal.

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It's just throwing good money after bad. It didn't work in Willenhall so why would it work in Bell Green?

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Until the real issues are sorted, this is but a (failing) sticking plaster. But you can't expect our excremental councillors to understand this.

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Coventry businesses furious at 'decline' of Riley Square as teen yobs cause chaos



Shopowners have been left utterly 'frustrated' as years of plans to regenerate Riley Square in Coventry still remain at the drawing board. They say the area continues to be plagued by criminality and anti-social behaviour with no sign of the works previously planned for the area, leaving many business owners at their wits' end.

Talks about the fate of the dilapidated shopping precinct have been ongoing since 2016. An injection of cash and investment was pledged to the community in Bell Green, and in that time, parts of Riley Square have fallen into disrepair, and footfall has significantly reduced.

CoventryLive first revealed in 2015 that Coventry City Council was looking to sell off its leasehold for Riley Square. It allowed the local authority to cash in on unwanted assets against a background of 'severe budget cuts.'

In 2017, Innovative Retail Development (IRD) announced they would be taking over the site and vowed to completely revamp Riley Square. Developers said they were going to remove the canopies around the shops, provide new shop frontages and demolish Joseph Latham House.

In October 2020, IRD said that the shopping precinct would be 'returned to its former popularity'. However, shop-owners have said the neighbourhood has instead 'worsened' - and the works have yet to go ahead.

CoventryLive visited Bell Green and found bins overflowing, widespread anti-social behaviour and several shop units which are now empty and boarded up on Riley Square. Shopowners have spoken of their 'frustration' as long-awaited plans to revamp the precinct continue to be put on hold.



New Start 4U is a community interest company based on Riley Square. It provides a range of services, including employment and housing support to people who have settled in the UK from Europe, as well as to the people of Coventry.

Project Manager at New Start 4U, Karolina Grabowska told CoventryLive: “I feel disappointed that nothing has changed. I live near Riley Square. I have lived in the area for six years and there are no changes at all - everything falls apart.”

Asked how she feels about Riley Square, she said: “It is sad and depressing, people drinking from the morning. It is not something I would like to watch. I would rather watch families, and people shopping around and having a good time rather than people sitting on a bench and drinking.”

Ms Grabowska said that customers feel 'scared' to visit the company due to the state of Riley Square. “I think they are a bit scared to visit us in the office, and they do not really feel safe because of the way it looks. I have a feeling that our employees also do not really want to travel to our office because of how it looks,” she said.

Ms Grabowska said the planned redevelopment would help to revive the neighbourhood and bring new businesses to Riley Square. “It would be great because it will improve the look of Riley Square, people will feel safe and people will be attracted to new businesses. I think it will have a massive impact on our organisation,” she said.

Ms Grabowska said she and her colleagues are in the dark about the redevelopment plans for Riley Square. She said: “We are not informed about anything. The last time we got some information was about three years ago, but nothing since then really.”



Bell Green Post Office has been open for several decades on Riley Square. Owner Atu Patel said he has seen the precinct fall into a 'state of disrepair' since the site was taken over by Innovative Retail Development in 2017.

Mr Patel, 67, said: “It is an absolute nightmare for us. It is totally deprived. Customers are really scared, especially the old people who come and use the Post Office.”

Mr Patel said the neighbourhood has 'worsened'. He said: “It is like a ghost town. It has got worse and is not improving at all.

“It was better before because at least the precinct was kept clean, police were moving around during the evenings keeping the kids messing around off, but now, these days, nothing.”

Shoplifting has also become rife on Riley Square. A few weeks ago, Mr Patel received a call from an employee to say that £30 worth of coffee had been stolen but said that 'nothing happens' about the daily thefts that continue to plague Bell Green and Riley Square.

He said: “We have more shoplifters than customers. It is a really hard time for businesses.”

Mr Patel echoed the thoughts of Ms Grabowska and said he has had 'no communication' on what is happening to the site. He said: “We have had no communication at all whatsoever, nothing whatsoever. At least they should tell us.”



Staff at Di Angila Café said the once-bustling shopping precinct has been 'destroyed' over the past few years with the popular eatery now mostly empty. Youths are said to throw eggs, sit on top of the buildings and wreak havoc on Riley Square.

Employee Sarah, 48, said: “I have worked here for 20 years this year and it has changed a lot. We used to be packed every single day because you have got more open, people were coming up here. It is a shame because when I started here it was thriving.”

Sarah said the precinct has been left 'almost unrecognisable' with shuttered-up shops and youths regularly causing trouble on Riley Square. “Kids on the roof attack us and throw eggs and stones, but the police will not do anything. We have tried. It is being destroyed,” she said.

“It is affecting us because there is nothing around Riley Square. They need to do something and get people into the units, so we can get it back up and running. What is the point in coming up here if there is nothing open because there is nothing to come and shop for,” said Sarah.

Sarah said 'nothing has been done' despite announcements the redevelopment works would start in 2020. “We have not heard anything. There was talk about new electric shutters and we were meant to have new windows fitted, but we have not seen anything,” she said.

A spokesman for Coventry City Council said: “We entered a contract with Innovative Retail Development Limited to deliver a scheme at Riley Square and we believe it is still their intention to do so.”

Innovative Retail Development has been contacted several times regarding the regeneration plans for Riley Square but failed to respond to CoventryLive's request for a comment.

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Where are Plod? And what is the excuse offered by their leadership?

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Coventry shopping precinct put on the market with £1.25m price tag



A Coventry shopping precinct has been put on the market with a £1.25m price tag. Riley Square Shopping Precinct is listed on Rightmove.

A 150-year lease is available for the precinct, which opened in the 1960s and plays home to a number of shops. The Rightmove website explains there are a number of vacant units waiting to be refurbished.

"There appears to be good demand from local covenants for a number of these properties," the website states. The long lease for the precinct is on the market with offers in the region of £1,250,000.

It boasts a courtyard arrangement with four access/exit points onto Henley Road, Roseberry Avenue and into the two main car parking areas. "The residential property within the ownership is let on a long leasehold basis to Citizen Housing," the website states.

"Three of the retail units are also held on a long leasehold basis where ground rents are collected. The remaining units are all either let or available to be let (following refurbishment) on direct leases. The scheme is anchored by Farmfoods.

"All the long leaseholders (including Citizen Housing), have their own repairing responsibilities." More details about the site and its sale can be found on the Rightmove website here.

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Receiver appointed for Riley Square in Coventry after developers 'default on loan'

A long-awaited city regeneration project has been put on hold after the company behind it 'defaulted on a loan.' Riley Square Shopping Precinct was sold to Innovative Retail Development by Coventry City Council.

Plans to revamp Riley Square in Bell Green have been on the cards for years but have now 'hit a bump in the road.' Developers Innovative Retail Development (IRD) have 'defaulted on a loan,' according to receivers.

Joseph Anthony Pitt, of Fraser Real Estate, was appointed as the receiver on August 30, 2023. Mr Pitt said IRD have now been 'suspended' from dealing with the proposed regeneration of Riley Square.

Mr Pitt told CoventryLive: “It is very close to being resolved, which will allow the proposed regeneration of Riley Square to actually happen because it has not happened.” Mr Pitt said the proposed regeneration was further delayed by Covid.

He said: “Covid and delays in respect of planning permission have not helped Innovative Retail Development in terms of progressing those plans so it defaulted on its loan and that led to me being appointed as the receiver." He said they are now working towards the planned regeneration of Riley Square.

“We are in the process of trying to restructure the debt facility that Innovative Retail Development had because the whole idea of the transaction originally was related to the regeneration of Riley Square, which everyone believes is needed,” said Mr Pitt. Riley Square Shopping Precinct has now been put on the market for £1.25m, as we reported this week.

A listing on Rightmove said the site has 'a number of vacant units waiting to be refurbished.' Mr Pitt said: “We are exploring lots of different options which relate to bringing in new investment, bringing in a new owner, and restructuring the position with Innovative Retail Development - whatever we can do to try and see the regeneration plan back on track.”

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Coventry firm behind long-awaited Riley Square regeneration 'collapses into administration'



A Coventry firm behind a long-awaited city regeneration project has 'collapsed into administration.' Innovative Retail Development (IRD) had planned to revamp Riley Square in Bell Green.

Innovative Retail Development was established in 2016. It held the 150-year leasehold for the once-thriving shopping precinct Riley Square, which sits below a large amount of social housing.

Coventry City Council granted the lease to Innovative Retail Development with obligations to invest in a refurbishment project for the site in Bell Green. However, the city-based firm failed to follow up on this, for reasons that Quantuma says are 'presently unknown.'

A secured creditor of the company was said to have 'run out of patience' with the borrower, and joint administrators from Quantuma were then appointed. Simon Campbell and Kelly Mitchell from the Southampton-based firm were appointed on Wednesday, August 7.

Innovative Retail Development, which was based on Riley Square, did not have any employees, so no jobs have been affected. Managers of the site remain in place, Quantuma said.

Managing Director at Quantuma, Simon Campbell said: “It is deeply regrettable that Innovative Retail Development has been forced into an insolvency process as a temporary protective measure.”

Mr Campbell added: “Our immediate priorities have been to control rental income, to understand the balance of interests between secured creditors and Coventry City Council, to deliver a practical solution for the community, and to maximise medium-term value for creditors.”

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No timeline for revamp of 'challenging' Coventry shopping centre



Twelve months on from the collapse of the property firm tasked with revamping Riley Square in the centre of Bell Green, the 1960s shopping centre remains untouched with more units being boarded up and further graffiti being daubed on the walls. At a full Coventry City Council meeting earlier this month, questions were asked about when work would start and now there are suggestions that some outlying wards are being left behind while money is being ploughed into developments within the city centre.

At the council meeting, Reform’s Cllr Jackie Gardiner asked for a timeline for when work would begin following the decision by Innovative Retail Development (IRD) in August last year to call in the administrators. She also asked if people living in Bell Green would be consulted over the redevelopment so that it met their needs.

Cllr Jim O’Boyle, the cabinet member for jobs, regeneration and climate change, said conversations were going on ‘offline’ but admitted there was no timeline going forward. He added: “It is worth saying that Riley Square’s redevelopment/regeneration has not been without its challenges partly because land values are really low and that has a direct impact on the ability of investors to have a return.

"Secondly, clearly Riley Square is populated by shops on the ground floor and residents above and those two can’t be done properly unless there is an understanding of how we work that through.”

Reform’s Coventry East branch chairman, Marcus Fogden, has now joined the debate, concerned the saga has been going on for nearly 20 years. As a deputy manager in the former Aldi store, he witnessed first hand many of the problems affecting Riley Square.

“There was quite a lot of crime in the area, it is not well-lit, the bins aren’t emptied very frequently and there are only about half a dozen stores left out of around 30,” he explained. “It is very run down and units are shuttered up.

“It should be a central hub as it is within walking distance for thousands of residents. I feel that Coventry City Council is hyper focused on trying to develop Coventry city centre and a lot of the wards outside don’t get the investment they need.

“The problem is, a lot of people don’t use the centre because you have to pay to park. If we were to focus on local hubs where people can walk to then that would make more sense. There is definitely potential there, it just needs the right investment. I wonder if the council could take direct control and hire their own contractors.”

IRD was granted a 150-year lease on Riley Square by the council in 2017 at which point two-thirds of the 32 units were occupied bringing in around £90,000 in rent each year.