It’s now like a ghost town (Image: PigDogUrbex YouTube)
Once a bustling local hub, one shopping centre in West Lothian, , has
It claimed to be Scotland’s premier outlet for designer clothes, with 40 shops including Versace, DKNY, Calvin Klein, Rockport and Levis.
However, Five Sisters Freeport Shopping Village didn’t even last a decade, and has been derelict since 2004, after opening just eight years earlier in 1996.
The 50,000 sqft centre attracted over a million visitors in its first year, and proved so popular there were even plans to extend with a snow centre and a golf course.
One year after opening, its bosses sent an application to West Lothian Council for an £18 million upgrade, including a snow centre with ski slopes, toboggan runs, snowboarding, and a children’s winter wonderland.
The shopping centre attracted over a million visitors in its first year (Image: PigDogUrbex YouTube)
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It’s been derelict since 2004 (Image: PigDogUrbex YouTube)
However, its exciting plans for expansion were never put into motion after the Livingston Designer Outlet opened nearby in 2000, drawing customers away.
Tenants quickly began to move their stores, and by 2001 while others were putting on clearance sales ready to leave.
By 2004, Freeport Leisure made the final call to shut the centre, leaving empty its go karting track, entertainment centre and cafes and restaurants.
The intriguing ghost town now stands empty, and it was even used by the as a filming location for a zombie children’s show in 2015.
By 2001, most shops had shut (Image: PigDogUrbex)
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Chairman of Freeport, Sean Collidge, pointed towards Livingston outlet leading to its downfall.
He said: “This scheme was 100 per cent let when it opened in 1996 and had four tremendous years. Then retail in Scotland became overpopulated in the central belt.”
YouTuber PigDogUrbex, who explores abandoned places,