John Whittaker: Last News

A billionaire tax exile accused of failing to maintain one of Scotland’s main ferry terminals banked a £22 million dividend from his ports empire last year.

With a landmark birthday just passed, shoppers have now experienced 25-years of retail and entertainment at the Trafford Centre.

“The organisers came in to apologise but it seems one half doesn’t know what the other half should be doing.”The Tour Series was part of the four day CD Bike and Food Festival and co-ordinator John Whittaker said: “The driver moved the barrier so she could drive through and the traffic management guy said she couldn’t do that, perhaps not in the nicest way."I believe it was resolved – Ian Barr from the council went to apologise and someone from the traffic management company also went in to apologise.”

direct to your inbox"The end of an era."That's how one industry insider described the news that Canadian pension fund CPPIB is now the new owner of the Trafford Centre.When it opened in September 1998, the vast shopping centre was the realisation of a dream long-held by one man.

hereThe planning process in order to build the vast mall was the most lengthy and drawn-out in British history as the original idea was first dreamed up back in 1986 by wealthy John Whittaker, of Peel Holdings.Manchester City Council vehemently opposed its development and felt it would impact negatively on the city centre economy.The Trafford Centre offered thousands of free car parking spaces as it lured people to embrace the Utopian concept of out-of-town shopping.The planning issue was finally decided in the House of Lords a decade later.Once it got the go ahead, the Trafford Centre took more than two years to build at a cost of £600 million and was - for a year - the largest shopping centre in the UK.It briefly lost its crown when the