Local produce food hall & cafe to open in former Lincoln Gap store

The former Gap store at St Marks Shopping Centre in Lincoln will soon be the home of a multi-purpose food hall and cafe which prides itself on local produce.

The Gap outlet store closed in Lincoln on July 24 and has been vacant since then, but will soon be replaced by Fresh Local & Wild, which boasts fashion, lifestyle and homeware, as well as food halls and cafes.

A “coming soon” sign is up in the window of Unit 8 at St Marks Shopping Centre, advertising a new food hall and cafe in the area.

The company says that it it “passionate about the High Street and championing local enterprise” on its website and aims to “bring the fun and colour back to retail whilst doing a bit of good along the way.”

The former Gap store will be replaced by Fresh Local & Wild’s food hall and cafe. | Photo: The Lincolnite

Fresh Local & Wild support local businesses by stocking their products, as well as a select few national and international brands to keep up to date with trends, and promise affordable prices.

An opening date has yet to be confirmed, but St Marks Centre Manager Valerie Johnson has said that it will be opening “in the very near future.”

It will open next door to The Entertainer. | Photo: The Lincolnite

Ellena Ward, director of Fresh Local & Wild, said: “We have a strong central ethos and are passionate about community and sustainability.

“We absolutely can’t wait to open in Lincoln and are almost there! Each one of our stores is dedicated to its surroundings with Lincoln’s store unique to Lincoln and we are enjoying meeting and working with the wealth of wonderful suppliers and producers the Lincolnshire region has to offer.

“Along with giving customers the ability to shop and support local we utilise our food hall as a larder to feed our café, it gives the ability to both try and love what we sell, with the added benefit of reducing food miles and waste.

“We also offer community space for anything from mums and tots, knitting groups, theatre groups so we can assist our community in any way we can.”

As for the other stores at St Marks which have closed recently, the shopping centre is in discussions with various companies to replace the likes of Boots, Argos and Debenhams, and have said they will provide an update as soon as they can.

Both Boots and The Works have closed at St Marks recently. | Photo: The Lincolnite

There is of course the former Debenhams store in the shopping centre, which is also looking for a tenant.

A QR code has gone up at the old Debenhams site in Lincoln, which you scan for leasing information. | Photo: The Lincolnite