Clothing retailer Weird Fish back with new store at Fleetwood's Affinity retail park after leaving site last year

Alison Godfrey (second left), store manager of the new Weird Fish shop at Affinity Fleetwood, with area manager Jason Wadsworth and fellow members of staff.

Popular casual clothes chain Weird Fish has returned to Fleetwood’ Affinity retail park a year after closing its previous outlet because of the Covid pandemic.

The new outlet is just two doors down from the location of its former store, and is a larger unit.

It was officially opened today (Tuesday December 20) just in time for some late Christmas shopping.

Founded in 1993, Weird Fish set out to offer reasonably- priced, well made and distinctive clothes that become instant feel-good favourites – and more than 28 years later, the brand is still a high street favourite.

The new Weird Fish store on Fleetwood's Affinity site

Weird Fish has has 20 branded stores and 300 stockists and the new Fleetwood outlet is the brand’s only dedicated store in Lancashire.

The new store offers a range of casual clothing, lounge wear and active wear for men and women.

It has seven members of staff, including the store manager Alison Godfrey.

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Stewart Shepherd, centre manager at Affinity, said “It’s great to welcome Weird Fish back to the centre as they were really popular when they were previously with us.

"There’s been a lot of interest in this new store already and it’s opened and just the right time for Christmas.”

Weird Fish has been on a drive in the past two years to introduce an increasing number of sustainable fabrics to its range and will also be replacing plastic bags with those made from ‘green’ materials.

The new store is located next to Bonmarche.

There are also proposals to open a new garden centre at the site, with the new amenity expected to open by Easter 2023.

One of Fleetwood’s biggest draws, the retail park opened in July 1995 as part of a regeneration scheme for the docks and was known as Freeport Fleetwood.

In 2006 the outlet received a £8.6 million revamp which included the opening of new stores and dozens of new jobs.

In 2018 the centre went through a re-branding, which involved the renaming of the site to become Affinity Lancashire,

Affinity Lancashire has 143,000 sq ft of retail space near the Harbour Village residential development, with 700 parking places.