A healthy takeaway and an old fashioned sweet shop among the new businesses which could open in Northampton's Grosvenor Centre

Opened in September, ‘Grow at Grosvenor’ proved to be hugely popular and attracted 26 applicants from professionals looking to get their business set-up in the biggest shopping centre in Northampton.

Unique and vintage fashion, a healthy takeaway restaurant, a high-end beauty salon, a community café, cards, gifting and reward ideas, an old-fashioned sweet shop and even a preschool gymnastics space and are among the concepts to have applied for the initiative over the last five weeks.

That number will be narrowed down by the end of October, with the applicants then getting the opportunity to present their business to a panel, consisting of Evan Ryan, asset manager at L&G, and centre manager James Roberts at an informal ‘meet and greet’ during a 30-minute slot.

In 2015, Grosvenor Shopping Northampton underwent a significant refurbishment to provide more stylish and modern shopping environment.

It is now home to Next, Primark, Superdry, Office, New Look as well as River Island which is due to open this month.

Speaking about the quality of applicants, Mr Roberts said: “The response we have had to our ‘Grow at Grosvenor’ initiative has been phenomenal. We have had a number of high-quality applications come through to us over the last few weeks.

“Myself and the asset manager from Legal & General – the owner of the shopping centre – will be working through those applications carefully and will select different businesses that we feel will bring some fresh, new and exciting to Grosvenor Shopping Northampton and the local community.

"We’re looking forward to meeting all of those applicants in person and making a decision about which ones we will be adding to our exciting portfolio at the centre.”