“We Love Eccles” artwork on regeneration hoardings in Eccles town centre, Salford, during redevelopment of the former shopping centre area.

Bright “We Love Eccles” artwork covers temporary regeneration hoardings around Eccles Shopping Centre in Eccles town centre, Salford, Greater Manchester. The bold yellow, white and dark-blue graphic carries the Eccles Vision identity and turns a practical construction barrier into a public-facing message of local pride during a major period of change for the centre. Salford City Council bought Eccles Shopping Centre in December 2022 after local consultation had identified the ageing centre and disused multi-storey car park as priorities for renewal. In March 2023 the council secured £5.4 million of UK Government Capital Regeneration Project funding towards acquisition and demolition. Phase one demolition began in January 2025, covering part of the shopping centre, Eccles Market Hall and the multi-storey car park, and the cleared site was completed in December 2025. The surviving parts of the shopping centre, including The Mall, Church Street and Boothway, continued trading while regeneration work progressed. In July 2025 the council appointed placemaker Muse as strategic regeneration partner for Eccles town centre. Community engagement during 2025 and 2026 fed into a new masterplan intended to improve public spaces, strengthen pedestrian connections, support local businesses, celebrate Eccles heritage and introduce new homes and other town-centre uses. Salford City Council said in 2026 that the final masterplan was expected in autumn 2026, with new development estimated to start in early 2028. The hoarding therefore records a transitional stage in the remaking of a post-war shopping centre and a wider attempt to address vacant shops, ageing retail infrastructure and changing patterns of town-centre shopping. Its repeated “We Love Eccles” message links physical redevelopment with community identity, civic promotion and placemaking in one of Salford’s historic town centres. The design makes regeneration visible in Eccles town centre's everyday streetscape.