'It's because of what's behind us': Life in a huge shopping outlet's shadow

In 1995, Cheshire Oaks, the UK's largest outlet centre, opened its doors for the first time.

The introduction of a new highway and an American-style shopping experience transformed a quiet, rural suburb of Ellesmere Port into one of the busiest corners of the UK.

Over these past three decades, visitor numbers have steadily increased, now attracting more than half a million shoppers every month.

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And, as the retail park has had to adapt to growing demand, so too have the people whose homes neighbour it.

Rita Duvall Jones is nearing her ninth year on the street that borders Designer Outlet Cheshire Oaks.

Despite battling often debilitating arthritis, she strives to keep her garden well-maintained for her escape-artist tortoise, Mandela, and her eight grandchildren, Cheshire Live reports.

“It’s lovely here but it has got its problems. It’s not because of anybody in this road - it’s because of what’s behind us,” she said.

She says she has suffered an 'invasion of rats' and that a neighbour's security camera captured them raiding bird-feeders.

“I realised that the rats were passing my back door like it was the M6," she says, blaming the nearby KFC for the problem. KFC refutes Rita’s claims, suggesting the pests are squirrels rather than rats.

"We consistently work with Ecolabs and Pest Control to keep our outdoor spaces pest-free," a KFC spokesperson said. Recent checks this week confirmed there were no unwanted guests, but those sneaky squirrels from the neighbouring woods might be the culprit here.

“We’ve let our local customers know that our stringent processes are successful, and we will continue to work with local authorities to ensure it remains this way.”

Meanwhile, another resident whose home neighbours the retail park said: “Traffic is awful. The traffic is the main thing that spoils it around here, completely.

“Sometimes you can’t even get out of here. Four o’clock isn’t a good time to go anywhere…because you can’t get out or get in.”

“Being up here used to be nice - now it’s all full on," they added. It used to be just sort of on the weekend and now it’s literally every day,” they added.

Nonetheless, aspects of village life remain. Derek Johnson is a former architect who walks his small dog, Pippin, multiple times a day. He has lived on Stanney Lane for 34 years and recalls when the area was mostly farmland. There’s an old bus shelter at the end of the street that he helped to design and convert into a book swap.

“I like this street - it’s as good as anywhere to live," he says.

Kelly Janjic, owner of Lime Tree Farm, has lived bordering Cheshire Oaks for five years. She likes being able to walk over to Cheshire Oaks if she wants to shop and enjoys the proximity to the restaurants. She echoes Derek’s view that traffic isn’t too disruptive, considering the location.

“Don’t get me wrong, Black Friday, for example, I went to Asda which is a mile down the road and it took me a while to get back. You have to kind of think about - do you really have to go out on a Saturday afternoon at two o’clock?

“As far as Cheshire Oaks is concerned, we don’t get any traffic down here," she said. "Might get the odd person coming through but they could be going anywhere couldn’t they? I don’t personally have any problems.”