A train station hailed for its ‘stunning and ambitious’ £27million renovation has now been branded a ‘massive embarrassment’ after attracting just one business inside two years after its grand reopening.
The modern glass-clad Sunderland Station opened in December 2023 and was labelled as a ‘stunning and ambitious’ triumph by Labour council leaders.
Inside the gleaming new station were three sprawling retail spaces – but two years on, none of them is filled.
The only business that has opened inside is ‘the world’s smallest’ coffee kiosk that sells drinks and snacks to passengers.
It’s a ‘massive let down’, said furious Liberal Democrat opposition leader Paul Edgeworth, blasting the multimillion-pound project.
He told the BBC: ‘Whilst the world’s smallest coffee shop is better than nothing, this station building is still a massive embarrassment for our city.
‘Labour’s council bosses hailed it as ‘stunning and ambitious’ when it opened, but in reality it is a massive let down and a stain on our city centre – a cold, uninviting, empty shell where toilets, escalators and doors are permanently broken.’
Passengers are also unimpressed, with some likening the design to a ‘weird art installation’ and even a prison.
The sole business in Sunderland Station two years after its £27million makeover is ‘the world’s smallest coffee shop’
Passengers have likened the multimillion-pound station to a prison or some weird art installation
Commuter Alistair Wright, 35, from Sunderland, said: ‘I use the trains a lot for work and was quite excited by the new station.
‘When it was unveiled I just thought ‘is this it?’ You don’t get much for £27 million quid.
‘It’s a bit like walking through a weird art installation.’
Another said: ‘It’s basically an aircraft hangar with a few cold metal benches like the ones you see in prisons.
‘People joke that it represents Sunderland pretty well because it’s cold, grey and dull.’
The station was partly paid for by the government’s Transforming Cities Fund and was defended by Labour council leader Michael Mordey.
He told the BBC: ‘I am clear there are improvements that can be made, but the station we have today is 100 times better than what was there before.’
Train operator Northern Rail admitted that Sunderland’s struggling high street is ‘a challenging market’, but is ‘working with local and national agents to market the retail units and attract the right tenants’.
Labour council leader Michael Mordey defended Sunderland Station’s refurbishment
The largest of the three empty retail units is currently under offer, Northern Rail said, but the struggling Sunderland high street is ‘a challenging market’
However, the biggest unit is currently ‘under offer’, the rail firm reported and promised pop-up markets and vending machines would be introduced this year to boost footfall.
Currently, the sole trader in the station is Caribe Coffee, which opened a kiosk in September.
Owner Quincy Docherty said Sunderland was ‘on the up’ but said the station ‘could do with more businesses’.
