BRAEHEAD Shopping Centre contributed £305 million to the economy in Renfrewshire and the surrounding area last year according to a study commissioned by its owner intu group.

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Research for the shopping centre group by planning and development consultancy Lichfields found Braehead supported 8415 jobs, representing seven per cent of all jobs in the Renfrewshire local authority area.

Some 6,345 people were employed by tenants of the centre while 188 people worked there for intu.

The centre supported around a further 1880 jobs held by people working in areas such as delivery and maintenance.

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The centre, which includes 156 stores, achieved 99% occupancy at December 31. Stores operators have faced increasing competition from online players.

The chief executive of intu Matthew Roberts said: “Flagship centres such as intu Braehead play an important role in the lives of communities across the UK, not only in terms of the jobs we create but also the taxes we generate as well as the causes we support.”

The group owns 17 centres across the UK.

It said it supported a total of 132,950 jobs and contributed £4.8bn to the UK economy last year.