Inside abandoned West Lothian shopping centre that was once a designer hub

The Freeport Shopping Village was only open for eight years before it was completely abandoned and left to the elements, with urban explorers now making their way round the former designer hub. An abandoned West Lothian[1] shopping centre has been visited by an urban explorer. Once a bustling hub, the Freeport Shopping Village was a popular spot for designer shopping[2] when it opened in 1996.

Since closing in 2004, only eight years later, the centre near West Calder has been left to the elements. Spanning over 50,000 square feet, Freeport attracted over a million visitors in its first year as it was easily accessible to those in both Edinburgh and Glasgow[3]. Shoppers could find brands such as Levis, Calvin Klein, DKNY and more.

There was also an activity area with soft play, go karts, an entertainment centre and two restaurants. The centre fell into decline after the Livingston outlet opened in 2000, despite sending off an application to West Lothian Council for an GBP18million upgrade only a year after opening. By 2001, most of the retailers had moved out of Freeport and others were offering clearance sales.

Jimmy Jay Ray, who shared the images with Edinburgh Live, said: “In its time was a great shopping centre. “Opened in 1996 and its first year had around one million customers, then went down hill as the location was hard to fund and the shops were just too expensive as they were mostly all designer. I remember it, and used to visit it.

Sign up for Edinburgh Live newsletters for more headlines straight to your inbox[6] “It was great to walk around it yesterday, was a weird feeling . Especially in the garden centre.”

Sean Collidge, chairman of Freeport, confessed at the time of closing that the opening of the nearby Livingston outlet was their downfall. He said: “This scheme was 100 per cent let when it opened in 1996 and had four tremendous years. Then retail in Scotland became overpopulated in the central belt.”

West Lothian Council have rejected plans to create housing in the area of the former shopping centre, though say they are keen to see it redeveloped. Join Edinburgh Live’s Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages.[7] A spokesperson said: “The re-development, or re-use, of Westwood (Freeport), near West Calder, previously operating as a factory outlet centre, is supported by the council.

“Leisure and tourist uses, specialised employment, starter units (Class 4), or institutional uses appropriate to a rural location will be supported.

“Some element of new or extended building out with the development envelope on site and/or housing (very low density and a maximum of 30 houses meriting a rural location, all confined to the development envelope) will be considered, where this is shown to be necessary in terms of the financial viability of an appropriate scheme.”

References

1. ^ West Lothian (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)
2. ^ shopping (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)
3. ^ Glasgow (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)
4. ^ Classic Edinburgh bus transformed into dream home on idyllic Australian island (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)
5. ^ Edinburgh woman climbing seven Munros in one day for touching reason (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)
6. ^ Edinburgh Live newsletters (www.edinburghlive.co.uk)
7. ^ Edinburgh Live’s Whatsapp Community here (chat.whatsapp.com)