What's in store for town's major shopping street?

THE town centre stretch of Linthorpe Road in Middlesbrough has not often been discussed in positive terms in recent years.

- By DANIEL HODGSON Local democracy reporter [e-mail]

Major shops have been closing regularly, leaving more and more units empty on what used to be the town's prestigious thoroughfare.

Earlier this year it was announced that new 'Investment Zone' funding for the Tees Valley would speed up plans to bring the House of Fraser and Marks and Spencer buildings back into use.

But at a recent meeting of the Middlesbrough Development Corporation (MDC) Board, chair Tony Parkinson said the plans need another look, questioning "whether or not what has been developed is something that we would support".

As far as this article is concerned, the town centre stretch of Linthorpe Road encompasses the pedestrianised zone that sees McDonald's and NatWest at one end, all the way up to the A66, where Halifax and Virgin Money are housed, just before reaching the dual carriageway overhead.

Plans for Linthorpe Road are wide and varied heading into the new year, with new student accommodation, more shops and the repurposing of some former flagship stores all on the cards for 2026.

It is hard to keep up with the relentless closures. On a Visit Tees Valley web page (part of the wider TVCA website), as of December 2025 House of Fraser still leads the list of a selection of high street and designer shops on Linthorpe Road - but this store closed in 2022.

Other shops listed, including Next, Boots and Baytree Interiors, are no longer fixtures of Linthorpe Road either.

Still, it is not all doom and gloom, with some new ventures coming to the street in 2025, such as tattoo shop Sacred Fury moving into the former home of Body Shop, which shut its doors in early 2024.

Dress Mode is another relatively new addition to Linthorpe Road. BoyleSports replaced All in One, between River Island and Select.