The upper floor was never really utilised property, had more of a market feel and didn't have any mainstream shops. Dallans was a great walk around though as a kid ! Remember there being a lot of empty units up there.
The first regeneration was the removal of the fountains and benches which imo, we're a great focal point, so that was unfortunate, you can see where they were from the different coloured tiles on the floor, normally this is where the calendar club goes. But the removal makes the walkways far to empty . Think there was some health and safety reason why they had to go, clearly didn't want to pay to have them over watched and I guess we're scared of small children drowning , as kids always used to sit round the edges. Also I think there was some water born disease scare, not in the centre itself, just nationally maybe listeria ?
Anyway, the second phase included the demolition of many smaller units, the original guildhall had many more shops inside, this phase demolished many, and got some big name anchor stores in.
They moved hmv in , and a big Waterstones downstairs, and cleared the upstairs for a big JJB, they also included a fresh milk shake store, similar pull to Starbucks, but did any milkshake combination you wanted, called shakeaway!, The card factory was also moved into bigger premises , and Clarks was moved across into a newly fitted shop.
This was it's most successful period imo, and they owners did everything right....
Unfortunately, one by one, these national firms collapsed, and unfortunately, there's just no body left to fill the void.