When Geraldine Ward was in her early twenties she had two career choices – prepare for an Army life and train at Sandhurst or join iconic department store, Selfridges. She opted for the former. Three decades on she is to follow the career path not taken all those years ago. Not that she will be running a department store, but she is the woman behind Spinning Jennies which is currently transforming the former Beales store in Kendal.

In January, within weeks of purchasing the site before it went to auction with a guide price of £550,000, she and partner William Smith started work. “We walked in in January and we had no idea what size the building was,” she says. It had been empty since March 2020 when Beales went into administration. Working with local architect Brian Nelson they drew up a detailed plan. “He drew up a plan cm by cm, what a mammoth feat. He’s been a godsend,” she says.

The multi-million-pound project will see the 45,000sq ft site turned into an area for designers, creatives and independent retailers, with a wine and champagne bar, street food hall and exhibition space. There will also be residential flats and cottages as part of the three-phase scheme.

The first phase is to develop the two ends of the building, creating a two-storey space for the Factory Tap wine bar run by Ronnie Mullin

at one end and creating four flats, two retail units, three cottages and one holiday let at the other. The plans were initially rejected but were resubmitted last month (OCT) and Geraldine hopes these should now be finished in stages by the spring. They already have planning permission to rent out what were the Wallis and Warehouse clothing units on Finkle Street.

Then work will begin on the central ‘Spinning Jennies’ section with its creative spaces, ground floor retail, champagne bar, tearoom and more living spaces. The food court, something close to Geraldine’s heart, will be one of the last parts to be developed. “I am hoping it’s going to be buzzy like Seven Dials in London, Kendal is a real foodie town and my real passion is food,” she says, adding that she was going to Italy to pick up some ideas from their food markets. She also wants to attract some of Cumbria’s Michelin-starred chefs and encourage them to do a street food pop up. Phase three is penthouse flats. All subject to planning approval.

Before then, there’s a lot of development work to do. They have started stripping the building of asbestos; Geraldine says the three-month delay to their two-year project is down to deciding to remove all the asbestos, rather than not getting planning consent. She says: “We are not a big massive company with cash in the bank. Phase 1 was initially rejected by planners which was a bit of a shock and impacted on our ability to drawdown the full allocation of bank development funds, to progress a bit quicker.”

Geraldine has no doubt that attending Sandhurst after leaving university was a good career move, but she does retain a soft spot for Selfridges in London. She says Sandhurst transformed her from ‘shy’ to ‘losing her fear’ which led her to launching a decade- long career travelling the world and teaching leadership skills at some of the world's leading hotel chains.

Although born in Bury, in some ways she is returning to her roots. She is Cumbrian on her father’s side. Her grandfather was a manager of Boots in Whitehaven and her grandmother had a pharmacy degree. “Cumbria has always been part of my life, I feel at home here. I love the Lake District, I have walked all the highest fells, done them all. The freedom of standing on the tops is amazing, coming back here is such a privilege.”

After school she says she drifted, worked as an au pair in Germany, did a degree in English Lit at Birmingham University where she also joined the Officer Training Corp. “I had a desire to be Emma Hart from Woman of Substance and I loved the story of Selfridges but the Army was advertising for female officers and my dad said, ‘why don’t you apply to go to Sandhurst?’” She was in the third cohort of women to be accepted in the mid 1980s, rejecting the management scheme at Selfridges. “I was a shy girl…and I came out a leader,” she says. “I have always gone for excitement, I could have been a Major sitting behind a desk or go out into Thatcher’s Britain and create something.” So she left the Army and spent years teaching leadership skills to the Sheraton Hotel Group across Africa, Middle East and Europe then Elf Petroleum in Nigeria and various Intercontinental Hotels. “I was absolutely hands on in delivery.”

Wanting a change of career and with a love of hospitality, she bought Low Wood Hall in Wasdale where, with her chef Alan, she achieved two AA rosettes for the restaurant. After a few years she sold up and briefly worked for Cumbria Constabulary before moving to the Isle of Wight with her new partner. The relationship didn’t work out but she did meet property developer William Smith, first as a friend and then eight years ago they started a relationship. When Covid hit she and William spent it at her mum’s home near Windermere. “Covid changed our view and how we were running our lives,” she says. “We started looking around…William was on the internet and up popped this place, Beales. He said, ‘Could it be our project?’ and we went for it.’”

Although the project is financed by the bank they are also selling properties on the Isle of Wight so their ‘liquid funds’ are invested too. Spinning Jennies is Geraldine’s business with William, an accountant and tax expert who started dabbling in property development more than 50 years ago, as her advisor. He currently has several development companies of his own and has worked on projects three times as large as the Kendal one.

Geraldine says although local influencers and the MP see Spinning Jennies as a positive for Kendal town centre, together with a general conviction that reviving the high street is a good thing, the local planners are having to adhere to national rules which has created challenges. They are now working closely with them at every stage to keep the development on track.

If it all goes to plan, Spinning Jennies will be fully operational in 2024. Geraldine says she wants to put it into a charity trust which will benefit Cumbrian entrepreneurs in the future. “I’m nearly 60 and William is 70 so we want to give something back,” she says.

Geraldine remembers visiting JR Taylors when she was young with her mum and grandmother and buying work clothes when it became Beales. “A lot of people have memories of Beales, JR Taylors, Musgroves. It holds a premier position on Finkle Street, a major high street in the pretty market triangle of this ancient and characterful county town. There are too many empty shops; I think people stopped coming to Kendal. I love high streets, I love food and I love small business growing creative entrepreneurial people. It’s become a passion. God knows how it will all end in the end but we are trying to do our bit!”