Maidenhead MP cuts ribbon to new Maidenhead Shopmobility unit

Shopmobility in Maidenhead has moved into a new unit in the Nicholsons Shopping Centre – ahead of the opening of the new temporary car park.

The service, run by People to Places, has been open at Unit 41 (next to Crazy About Framing) since Saturday, November 23, after moving from its previous location opposite La Cantina.

On Thursday last week, the team welcomed Maidenhead MP Josh Reynolds to a ceremony where he officially cut the ribbon to the new premises.

Shopmobility had to leave its permanent location at the Broadway car park in December 2022 when the multi-storey was closed over health and safety reasons.

Since then, the service has been operating from the Nicholsons Shopping Centre.

But following last month’s announcement that a new temporary car park will open at the Broadway site before Christmas, the service has now made the move to be situated next to the old Broadway car park entrance into the shopping centre.

Drivers and volunteer drivers for the service were among those at last week’s ceremony to celebrate the move.

Speaking to the Advertiser at the event, Peter Haley, CEO of People to Places said he is ‘really excited’ about the move and is hoping it will help boost service user numbers in Maidenhead, once the temporary car park is open.

He said: “I’m really excited. As a team we’re all looking to pull together to promote Shopmobility to get as many people out as we possibly can.

“This is a great location, and we just feel everything’s looking positive for the future, so very excited.”

At the Maidenhead Town Forum last month, Mr Haley had reflected on the impact of the closure of the former Broadway Car Park, stating that ‘2022/23 was severely hit’ in terms of user numbers.

He said one the big issues is people have not been able to access the service with a car park.

At Thursday’s event, Mr Haley added: “Because of the car park situation, they don’t particularly engage with Shopmobility at the moment.

“However, with the new car park opening, they’ll be able to come in here and drop people off and pick people up and it will kind of re-integrate the organisation again.

“We know there are lots of people out there that used to use services.

“What we’re saying to them is please come back to us, we’re here, we’ve got plenty of equipment, we’ve got plenty of new equipment as well, so there are lots of ways for people to get out and about inside Maidenhead town centre.”

MP Josh Reynolds said it was ‘absolutely fantastic’ be at the ribbon cutting ceremony and officially open the new unit.

He added: “It’s absolutely brilliant. With the new car park opening very soon as well, it’s going to really change the way that Shopmobility works in Maidenhead – move back to what it should be, so we’ve got fantastic, easy ability.

“It’s just brilliant to see the unit looking really great. It looks fantastic and it’s going to do really well.”

“The fact that People to Places will be so close to the car park when it opens, it means it will be much easier for the Shopmobility customers to be able to get out of their cars, straight onto one of the Shopmobility vehicles [and] into the town centre.”

Mr Haley said that discussions over a permanent location for the service are ‘incredibly positive’.

Commenting on the search for a permanent location, Mr Reynolds said: “I’m happy to help in any way possible.

“I’m talking to the council on a regular basis about what we can try and do.

“I know the council are actively trying to work for opportunities to get a permanent home for People to Places.”