Merry Hill Shopping Centre closing in June 1990. A further blow came when the local council, Dudley Metropolitan Borough, announced that it was bringing in parking charges throughout the area; this turned more shoppers away from local town centres, and towards the Merry Hill Centre, where parking remains free. Though there have been plans for introducing parking charges at the centre, this has been criticised, ironically, due to fears of impacting trade. In 2008, Merry Hill Centre, along with nearby Brierley Hill, was redesignated as the 'strategic town centre' of the Dudley Borough, and thus the focus of future local government investment. The Merry
Fareham Shopping Centre Fareham Shopping Centre Fareham Shopping Centre is at the heart of the centre of the medium-sized Hampshire town of Fareham. Built in two phases between 1975 and 1981, the centre contains many well known retailers and is quite large for a town of its size. The shopping centre is part of a wider scheme of buildings in the town centre that were constructed around the same time. Neighbouring buildings include: The shopping centre was originally anchored by a Sainsbury's supermarket, Woolworths, Boots and Marks & Spencer. The 1981 Eastern extension added a new anchor store - BHS and another multistorey