The £60 million Cornmill shopping centre was opened by the Mayor of Darlington, Councillor David Lyonette. It radically reshaped the heart of the town, sweeping away a hodgepodge of shops and back yards. The biggest loss was the Co-op store, which stretched from Priestgate to Tubwell Row. It had closed in April 1986, making 112 people redundant and leaving Priestgate without a co-operative for the first time since the formation of the Priestgate Co-operative and Industrial Society in 1868.
Foundations for the Cornmill had to be sunk 60ft because of the shifting riverside soil. In May 1989, a leg of a 90-ton crane snapped, leaving the vehicle in danger of collapse, and so the town centre had to be evacuated. In February 1990, a workman, 55-year-old Ralph Collins of Guisborough, died after falling from scaffolding.
Some likened the appearance of the shopping centre to ‘a Second World War concentration camp’. Chief architect Stephen Gray said: ‘Cornmill is designed to reflect various aspects of existing buildings in Darlington, although not to copy them slavishly.’ He was particularly proud of his glass atrium, which is the centrepiece of the centre.
The mall was called ‘Cornmill’ because in ancient times the Bishop of Durham sited the town corn mill where the TK Maxx multi-storey car park is today.
(The Northern Echo, 1992)