[citation needed] The Sainsbury's store on Queen's Road was bought and demolished (1983) to create space for the centre and a warehouse.

During the development of the centre, listed high street buildings were renovated and Queen's Road was maintained as a pedestrian cross route through the town.

[14] Intu Properties purchased the adjoining Charter Place shopping centre from Watford Borough Council in April 2013.

[15][16] Planning permission was granted in 2014 for Charter Place to be demolished, to make way for a new mixed-use scheme which comprises 16 retail units, a new department store, 11 restaurants and a 9 screen Cineworld cinema, one of which is a high definition IMAX, which will be integrated into the main Intu Watford centre.

[18] On September 27, 2018 Debenhams opened a new 86,000 sq ft store in the extension, featuring its first redesigned beauty hall.