The building that used to contain a bowling alley, cinema and a pizza restaurant in Bracknell is now completely closed.
The Point was home to Hollywood Bowl, the Odeon cinema and Pizza Hut, situated in a convenient location close to the town centre with ample parking spaces.
However, after years of operating, Hollywood Bowl, the last business standing at The Point, closed on Monday, October 20.
This closure clears the way for the building to be demolished and replaced with flats in the coming years.
The Point is part of the same site as the Peel Centre, which is made up of eight big box stores, including Home Bargains, Halfords, Currys, The Range, Pets at Home, Poundland and Morrisons, which occupies a separate building.
The whole site has been earmarked for redevelopment to provide apartments for years within the Bracknell Forest Local Plan.
The policy document was adopted by Bracknell Forest Council in March last year and lays out where homes will be built until 2037.
The Point and The Peel Centre have been identified as a site for 900 apartments, of which approximately 600 could be delivered in the next 12 years.
Of those, 35 per cent should be designated as affordable housing, with the hope that 210 of these could be completed by 2037.
Additionally, the council wants some of these homes to provide specialist accommodation for older people to meet the housing needs of the area.
These features are mentioned in the adopted Local Plan.
But this vision for the site is complicated by the fact that The Point and The Peel Centre are divided into three separate buildings.
The Point is now entirely vacated following the closure of Hollywood Bowl, the Odeon in May and the Pizza Hut restaurant in June.
However, Morrisons is still open and the row of stores is 80 per cent occupied, with two out of 10 units being vacant.
That is why the Local Plan states that a replacement supermarket should be built before the Morrisons is demolished.
Although The Point is now completely unoccupied, it is unlikely that the building will be demolished any time soon, as the council predicts that development would only start in five to six years’ time.
The Local Plan states: “It is envisaged that housing could start to be delivered in 2031/2032.
“This is due to the site’s complexity and phasing of development.”
As well as housing, the plan states the development should provide replacement commercial space and offices, and ‘a high quality public realm that is not dominated by car parking’.
Planners have also determined that capacity improvements to junctions such as the Western Roundabout and Running Horse Roundabout would be required, as well as improved accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists to education and the wider cycle network.
