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Client case study

Sunderland BID

Regeneration, football and the visitor economy in Sunderland

Beauclair examined whether Sunderland city centre’s retail performance improved alongside the the Riverside Sunderland regeneration project and Premier League promotion.

Background

The impact of regeneration and promotion

Riverside Sunderland is regenerating Sunderland’s city centre. It includes: 

  • modern office buildings, bringing 10,000 jobs and 1,000 homes for 2,500 residents 
  • Riverside Park and green spaces, as a civic hub with walking, cycling and community space 
  • new infrastructure, including the Culture House and the Keel Crossing footbridge

Is this investment, together with Sunderland’s promotion to the Premier League, lifting retail sales in the city centre? If it is, which sectors and customers are behind it? 

Sunderland Riverside

Key findings

Retail sales turned around

  • From January 2024 to June 2025, the city centre under-performed against the Major Town Centres segment of the High Street Index (−1.16%). 
  • Sunderland was promoted in May 2025, and the Keel Crossing opened in July 2025, connecting the city centre to the Stadium of Light. 
  • After that, the city centre outperformed Major Town Centres by +4.85%. That is worth £8.2m in additional retail sales.

Families are the main growth segment

  • The biggest gains come from “Suburban Childhoods” (+£1.23m), “Value-Seeking Families” (+£643k) and “Successful City Families”
    (+£556k). 
  • The biggest declines come from “Elderly Essentials” (−£643k) and “Urban Basics” (−£511k).

Home football matches add a measurable boost

  • Saturdays with a home game see an average uplift of £256k, or 45%, compared with Saturdays with no game. 
  • The uplift is split 50/50 between “In Town” and “Rest of GB” customers.

Visitors are driving growth, not locals

  • Sales to customers from the Rest of GB are up 4.8%. 
  • Sales to Sunderland residents are up only 0.6%

The "experience economy" is driving growth

Food & Drink and Entertainment are the strongest sectors. Fashion is the weakest.

Conclusion

A case for success

Beauclair’s data shows a turnaround in Sunderland city centre’s retail performance: regeneration, better connectivity and Premier League football are together pulling visitors into Sunderland city centre and shifting its retail mix towards Food & Drink and Entertainment. Extra spend comes mainly from visitors and families. Local spend and traditional retail such as Fashion are not seeing the same gains but this highlights possible areas of focus for the future.

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