Trafford Centre: Shops, Parking, Directions and Opening Times
Around 200 stores along three miles of marble boulevard, the first Selfridges outside London, Europe’s largest food court and a 20-screen cinema — reached by tram from Manchester in a way that was impossible until 2020.
The Trafford Centre opened in September 1998 after one of the longest and most expensive planning fights in British history, and it has been settling arguments about out-of-town retail ever since. It is the third largest shopping centre in the UK by retail space — 2.2 million square feet — and it is the one that most obviously enjoys itself: painted domes, marble, palm trees and a food court got up as an ocean liner.
Two practical things to know before you go. It is effectively fully let, with occupancy above 99% since late 2024, so the directory you look at will be accurate. And since March 2020 the Metrolink runs to a stop outside Selfridges, which turned it from a car-only destination into somewhere you can reach from Manchester city centre in one tram.
A shopping and entertainment mecca to some, a gaudy retail fairground to others, however you look at it there’s no denying that the Trafford Centre is a monumental success.
The essentials
| Detail | Trafford Centre |
|---|---|
| What it is | Out-of-town covered shopping and leisure centre, with the separately owned Trafford Palazzo next door |
| Address | The Trafford Centre, Manchester, M17 8AA |
| Satnav postcode | M17 8AA for the centre; M17 8AS for Trafford Palazzo |
| Opened | 10 September 1998, after 27 months of building, at a cost of £600m |
| Extensions | The Great Hall, March 2007 (£26m); Barton Square, March 2008 (£90m), enclosed and extended in 2020 and rebranded Trafford Palazzo in 2021 |
| Size | 2.2 million sq ft — the third largest in the UK by retail space |
| Stores | Around 200 stores and services, plus 70 or so places to eat |
| Parking | About 10,000 free spaces across 18 car parks, free up to 12 hours — but only 5 hours in Regent 1, 2 and 3. No overnight parking. Trafford Palazzo has 900+ of its own |
| Coaches | Free parking for up to 27 coaches |
| Owner | CPP Investments, the Canadian pension fund, since December 2020. Managed by Pradera. Trafford Palazzo is separately owned by Peel |
| Valuation | £1.057bn at the end of 2025 |
| Footfall | 23.5 million in 2025 |
| Website | traffordcentre.co.uk · 0161 749 1717 |
Opening times
| Day | Hours |
|---|---|
| Monday to Friday | Typically 10am – 10pm |
| Saturday | Typically 10am – 9pm |
| Sunday | Typically 12pm – 6pm |
| ODEON cinema | Mon–Thu 10am – 10pm; Fri–Sat 10am – midnight; Sun 10am – 10pm |
| Restaurants | Later than the mall — Nando's to 11pm and Tampopo to midnight on the day we checked |
Read this one carefully. The Trafford Centre publishes only a rolling "open today" line, not a weekly timetable, so the days above come from Visit Manchester, the official Greater Manchester tourism body, checked on 31 August 2026 — not from the operator. Treat them as typical rather than guaranteed, and check the centre's own site on the morning you travel. The six-hour Sunday window is England's Sunday trading law. Bank holiday hours are not published in advance at all.
Getting there
By car
The destination's own guidance names M60 junction 10; the centre sits between junctions 9 and 10 and both are signed. From Manchester city centre take the A56 then the A5081; from Salford and Eccles the A576 Centenary Way; from Urmston the B5214. Trafford Palazzo's car parks are entered from Barton Dock Road.
Parking, and the five-hour trap
About 10,000 free spaces across 18 car parks, free for up to 12 hours in most of them — but only five hours in Regent 1, 2 and 3, with a same-day no-return rule on Regent 1 and 2. If you are staying longer, take a receipt for £10 or more to Guest Services after midday and they will extend it. Premium Parking on Peel 5 Upper offers oversized reserved bays and a valet option.
Blue badge parking is concentrated on lower Regent Crescent beside the Guest Services Lounge; Regent 13 is the car park closest to it. There are parent-and-child spaces throughout, and EV charging at Regent 13 and on the lower levels of Peel 4 and Peel 5A.
By tram
The Metrolink Trafford Park line runs direct from Manchester city centre to The Trafford Centre stop, outside Selfridges, every 12 minutes. The adjacent Trafford Palazzo stop — outside Primark — is five to ten minutes' walk away, with a link bridge at Barton Dock Road connecting the two sites. The stop opened in March 2020 and is the line's terminus.
By bus
There is an on-site bus station at the Regent Crescent end, served from across Greater Manchester: the X50 and 250 from Piccadilly, the 100 from Victoria and Salford Crescent, and the 18, 23, 25 and 245 from Urmston. Routes 150 and 250 link the tram stop to the bus station. Bus enquiries go through the Bee Network on 0161 244 1000.
By train
There is no railway station at the centre. Come by train to Manchester Piccadilly, Victoria, Salford Crescent or Urmston and finish the journey by tram or bus. Piccadilly is about a 15-minute drive.
Taxis and bikes
Taxi ranks sit outside The Orient and The Great Hall. Secure cycle parking is provided around the centre, including next to the bus station.
The shops
Around 200 stores and services along what Visit Manchester calls three miles of granite and marble boulevards, with occupancy above 99% since late 2024.
The anchors
Selfridges — the first outside London — with John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Next. Primark anchors Trafford Palazzo next door.
Notable names
- Zara
- Mango
- H&M
- UNIQLO
- River Island
- AllSaints
- BOSS
- Calvin Klein
- Tommy Hilfiger
- Stradivarius
- Apple
- Samsung
- Sephora
- Space NK
- Lush
- Kiko Milano
- JD Sports
- Gymshark
- Lululemon
- The North Face
- New Balance
- Footasylum
- Cartier
- Rolex
- Tiffany & Co.
- TAG Heuer
- Breitling
- The White Company
Eating
The Orient is the centre's themed food court and reckoned to be the largest in Europe — 1,600 seats and around 35 outlets under a painted sky. The Great Hall, added in 2007, is the grander dining room upstairs. Between them the centre advertises 70-plus places to eat, from San Carlo and wagamama to Nando's, Tampopo, KFC, Krispy Kreme, Joe & the Juice and Blank Street.
Leisure
The 20-screen ODEON with an IMAX is described as the busiest Odeon outside London. Namco Funscape covers bowling and arcades, and Trafford Treetop Adventures sits opposite the Regent 13 car park. Next door at Trafford Palazzo are SEA LIFE Manchester and LEGOLAND Discovery Centre. Chill Factore, the indoor real-snow slope, is nearby in Trafford Park but is a separate business on a separate site — it is part of the wider TraffordCity destination, not of the centre itself.
What has arrived lately
JD Sports opened the largest JD store in the world here on 7 June 2025 — 41,000 sq ft, more than triple its previous size. Gymshark followed that summer, along with Whittard, Joe & the Juice, Popmart and Pureseoul. Sephora, Space NK, Hobbs, Lululemon, Blank Street, Tommy Hilfiger and Tiffany & Co. all arrived or committed from late 2024. In 2026 the centre added Garage, upsized Stradivarius to 13,500 sq ft, upsized Lululemon and landed UNIQLO's second Manchester store.
Useful to know
- Quiet Hour every Wednesday, 10am to 11am — an autism-friendly session with low music and dimmed lights.
- Guest Services Lounge on lower Regent Crescent, opposite Virgin Holidays and beside the blue badge parking, for directions, parking help, gift cards, mobility hire and water refills. Regent 13 is the nearest car park.
- Wheelchair hire is free with a £20 refundable deposit; mobility scooters are £3 an hour plus the same deposit, with an annual membership option. Fun buggies for children are also available with a deposit and ID.
- Accessible toilets with assisted changing facilities in The Orient, lower Regent Crescent and upper Peel Avenue. A Changing Places toilet is available on site.
- Families. Baby changing, nappy dispensers and private feeding areas in the main toilet areas, plus parent-and-child parking and a Multi Faith Room.
- Gift cards work at 200+ retailers, are valid for 12 months and can be bought online, from machines around the centre or at Guest Services. Cartier, Rolex, TAG Heuer, Hublot, Virgin Holidays, Kuoni, Vodafone, McDonald's and YO! Sushi are excluded.
- Free WiFi with registration — minimum age 16, and a 200MB daily cap.
- Assistance dogs only. Also banned: smoking and vaping anywhere, drones, bikes, scooters, skateboards and Heelys, and commercial photography without permission. Personal photos of family and friends are fine.
How it got here
Peel Holdings conceived the scheme in 1984 and applied in 1986. Permission came in 1988 and again, fully, in 1993 — and then the fight started properly. Eight of the ten Greater Manchester authorities led inquiries against it on the grounds of what it would do to established town centres and to traffic, and a consortium took the 1993 permission to court. The Court of Appeal went against the scheme; on 24 May 1995 the House of Lords overturned that ruling and reinstated the permission. Trafford's own heritage service calls the process one of the longest and most expensive in UK planning history.
Building began in May 1996 and the centre opened on 10 September 1998, 27 months later, at £600m against an original budget of around £250m. The Great Hall was added in 2007 and Barton Square in 2008; Barton Square was enclosed under a glazed roof and given a first floor in a £75m scheme finished in March 2020, then rebranded Trafford Palazzo in 2021.
The 2020 collapse of Intu split the site's ownership. CPP Investments — the Canadian pension fund — took the Trafford Centre in December 2020, appointing Pradera to manage it, while Peel bought back Trafford Palazzo in May 2021. The centre has recovered strongly since: valued at £1.057bn at the end of 2025, up from £985.9m a year earlier, with footfall of 23.5 million and occupancy above 99%.
What we could not check
- The opening hours. The operator publishes only a same-day line, so the weekly table above is Visit Manchester's, not the centre's. Its dining and leisure closing times of 6pm look inconsistent with restaurants that trade to midnight, so we have not repeated them.
- The Orient's own hours are not published as a food court — individual restaurants set their own.
- Store count. The operator's directory lists about 280 entries including kiosks and services; the defensible figure for actual stores is around 200.
- Parking spaces. The operator says about 10,000 across 18 car parks; other sources say 11,500 or 12,500. We have used the operator's figure.
- Coach spaces. The operator says 27; Wikipedia says 350. Again, the operator's figure.
- No centre-wide click and collect or parcel locker service is published — individual retailers run their own.
- EV charging speeds, connectors and tariffs are not published, and neither is a formal passenger drop-off point.
- Recent departures. We found no sourced list of closures. With occupancy above 99% there cannot have been many, but we are not going to state that as fact.