displayed in the main thoroughfare. There are plaques in the floor at each entrance stating "Private property, no public right of way" to prevent the walkthoughs becoming public footpaths. History When opened in 1964, the Yorkshire Evening Post said the centre emulated what every successful large town and city wanted to build. The builders were Parkinsons and the structural emgineers William V. Zinn & Associates. Parkinsons described the centre as "the most advanced shopping and entertainment centre in the country" and cost £3m to build. The former Barclays Bank on the front of the Merrion Centre was converted into 'PRYZM' which has become a popular Leeds nightclub. Much of The Merrion Centre remains almost unchanged since its construction. With many other cities renovating their equivalents of The Merrion Centre (the reconstruction of the Bullring, Birmingham, the Arndale Centre in Manchester being partially rebuilt and Eldon Square in Newcastle Upon Tyne being renovated), Leeds city centre's largest shopping centre was beginning to look dated. In June 2007 renovation began, concentrating on the western side of the centre. Since then additional developments have taken place including a new lighting scheme to the "new front" (launched 2015). In 2012 the Merrion Superstore market hall closed and opened up as Pure Gym in 2013. In summer 2016, The Merrion Centre was undergoing major refurbishment. The western side of the centre was being extended to accommodate new refurbished council offices, as well as new restaurants and retail units. New tenants had moved in such as a new Sainsbury's Local, and the centre's Morrisons supermarket has been rebranded to fit the company's new corporate image, with major extension and refurbishment inside. Woolworths' relocation to the Merrion Centre, from Briggate (now the House of Fraser) in the early 1990s provided the centre with another major retailer and increased footfall. The Morrisons in the centre is the main supermarket in the city centre and has seen a surge in custom since the building of many city centre flats in the property boom of the 2000s. However most of these are towards the southern end of the city centre, and for them the Morrisons in The Penny Hill Centre, Hunslet is nearer and also offers free parking. A mock-Georgian wing of the shopping centre was never fully occupied since the centre opened, and this wing was closed off in January 2016 to allow building work on the western end