John Richards runs a finger along the wooden railing, collecting a thin layer of dust. “I hope you have plenty of pairs of Marigolds, Phil,” he tells his project manager.

With the opening due next Thursday morning, shopfitters are swarming over Highcross, a shopping mall that promises to revitalise the centre of Leicester. Cables trail everywhere and scaffolding is carried to and fro, against the soundtrack of drills screwing in shopfront signs.

Inside John Lewis, the anchor store, staff sit in a circle ready to be briefed. Across the square, designed to become a late-night restaurant district, chefs in the Wagamama noodle bar lay out every dish on the menu so newly recruited waiters can recognise what they are selling.

Wandering around in the middle of it all, Richards, chief executive of Hammerson, the £2.7 billion FTSE 100 property group behind the mall, is pretty relaxed. Investments in Brent Cross shopping centre, Birmingham’s Bullring and West Quay in Southampton mean he is used to putting his faith in shoppers’ ability to spend money they haven’t got.

Highcross has been more than four years in the planning, but there is no denying that it could have opened at a better time. The CBI said that in August the high street had its weakest trading in 25 years as the credit crunch and economic downturn forced shoppers to cut back.

With two further malls opening in Paris and Bristol in the next month, Richards can only cross his fingers. “In the short term, the openings will be a success because of the combination of a new location and the curiosity of consumers,” he said. “In the longer term, the success of any retail location is dependent on the overall economy.”

The downturn hasn’t stopped Leicester getting excited about Highcross, named after the city’s medieval marketplace. When the development opened its doors for four hours in June so locals could have a look, more than 1,000 turned up.

For Leicester, Highcross is the first tangible sign of a £3 billion urban-regeneration scheme. A science and technology park, a performing-arts centre and homes along the river will follow.

Thirty years ago, national chains had to be in 175 locations to ensure that 50% of the country’s discretionary spending was walking past their door. Now that shopping centres have become more common, this can be achieved in 70 locations.

Leicester wants to be one of them. Hammerson believes it can extend the East Midlands city’s catchment area to draw in shoppers living almost an hour away in Nottingham and Peterborough. That would push Leicester ahead of Reading and Southampton and into one of Britain’s top 10 shopping destinations.

Steve King, a partner at the PKF accountancy firm in Leicester, said the city had been in slow decline for the past 30 years as jobs had been lost in the local textiles industry.

“Because it has taken place over time, the rot has been gradual rather than marked and significant. But the rot is there. If it wasn’t retail and leisure, what else would make the investment in social infrastructure?”

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