February 24, 1978

The pride of the Midlands and the envy of every other town in the region - that's Redditch's Kingfisher Shopping Centre.

And it is still only half built.

Work has now begun on the first stage of the third and final phase of the construction of the centre which will give Redditch one of the largest covered shopping centres of its type anywhere in Britain.

Already 409,000 sq ft of retail floor space has been built and phase three will see the construction of a further 450,000 sq ft which will provide a grand total of 163 shops and stores.

Phase 1 was the first step in the commercial redevelopment of Redditch's town centre and was open for trading in February 1973.

Phase 2 was the middle stage of the development of the Kingfisher and the first shop opened for trading in September 1975.