Wakefield's Trinity Walk to trial quiet hour for people with sensory needs

The shopping centre will turn off mall music for an hour every Wednesday from 4pm to 5pm.

Shops taking part with no or lowered music will include Lush, TK Maxx, Menkind, Three Mobile, Roman, Claire's, O2, Brows, Trespass, Clintons, The Body Shop, Caffe Noor, HMV, New Look (quieter music), Asda Living (2-3pm daily) and Sainsbury's, with more set to join in.

Cormac Hamilton, Centre Manager of Trinity Walk, said: "We had a family get in touch recently asking if we could start a quiet hour and they agreed after school 4pm to 5pm Wednesdays would be a good start.

"We control the music on our malls, but shops are in charge of their own and so many have already agreed to join in which is great - and some already have their own quiet hours in place too.

"We also know shopping centres can unavoidably be busy noisy places, so we've added guidance to our website on when it tends to be quieter in terms of footfall.

"And as always, anyone with children or adults with additional needs wanting to visit one of our events should drop us a line beforehand with any special requests and we'll always do our best to help.

"Like most things in life, it's a balancing act between creating a vibrant, safe, pleasant atmosphere while taking into consideration different people's needs.

"So even when our mall music is on, we try and make sure it's not too loud and vary the music throughout the day so there's a real mix rather than just intensive playlists throughout.

"We'll continue to review all of this and look at other ways to help welcome even more shoppers throughout the week."

If you or or a family member wants to visit an event and have additional needs, email Trinity Walk beforehand at [email protected].

The shopping centre also has a Changing Places toilet accessible with a Radar key, just bring your own sling for the hoist (if required).

Several stores and cafes have baby changing facilities and everywhere in the centre is breastfeeding friendly.