Hammerson : Victoria Gate attracts new lifestyle brands to Leeds

Hammerson announces that it is set to welcome wellbeing fragrance brand, Neom Organics London, and Australian tea retailer, T2 to its £165 million Victoria Gate development, marking a debut for each brand in Leeds.

Neom Organics has signed up to take a 63 m2 store, which will give the brand its second standalone shop in the UK. Renowned for its luxurious, natural wellbeing products including home fragrances and bath and body ranges, Victoria Gate provides the perfect space for the brand to move outside of London for the first time as it looks to further establish its presence across the UK.

T2, the established Australian tea brand, will also be debuting in Leeds when it opens its 126 m2 shop. With its selection of loose tea leaves, herbal tisanes and teaware from around the world, the brand's move to the North is an important step in adding to its growing portfolio of stores across the UK.

At its launch in the Autumn, the new 53,400 m2 (575, 000 sq ft) Victoria Estate, which will encompass both the adjacent Victoria Quarter and Victoria Gate, is set to create a new destination for Leeds, offering customers a mix of new aspirational retail brands and restaurants. Anchored by a flagship John Lewis, the retail line-up already includes Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, GANT, Hackett, Anthropologie, Cos, & Other Stories and fine dining international restaurant group, D&D.

Robin Dobson, Director Retail Development at Hammerson, said: 'Already ranked the third best place to shop outside of London, the new brands we are bringing to Leeds has the potential to propel the city to the top spot when it launches later this year. Both Neom Organics and T2 are great premium lifestyle brands that perfectly complement the tenant mix we are assembling at Victoria Gate to create the North's leading luxury retail, leisure and dining destination.'

Neom Organics founders, Nicola Elliott and Oliver Mennell, commented: 'We are thrilled to be opening our second Neom retail store; this is a natural progression for us as we build our retail portfolio for the brand. Our Wimbledon store houses two treatment rooms where we offer out luxury Wellbeing Spa Treatments, however with the Leeds store we wanted to offer a retail only format in a high footfall environment, and Victoria Gate will certainly be high footfall.'

T2 Global Marketing Director, Jane Hoban, added: 'The UK market is very important for us as a brand emerging globally. We are hugely excited to bring our growing tea family to Leeds and to be opening in Victoria Gate alongside such a great high-end and international brand mix.'

ENDS