In 1962 there were discussions about development of the site with the plans including a ten-pin bowling alley and 130 flats. 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. The shopping centre was named and opened by Harlequin Enterprises Ltd (founded 1987, dissolved 2000) in 1990. The name was a winning entry to a local competition; according to the
Watford Observer, the name was probably a reference to the
nearby railway line, at the time branded the "Harlequin line" as it passed through
Harlesden and
Queen's Park. Watford Council extended a resident parking permit scheme in 1996 to deal with the parking congestion that had arisen since the opening of the centre. Intu Properties purchased the adjoining Charter Place shopping centre from
Watford Borough Council in April 2013. 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. Demolition work began in November 2015. On 27 September 2018
Debenhams opened a new 86,000 sq ft store in the extension, featuring its first redesigned beauty hall. The 400,000 sq ft extension has increased the total size of the shopping centre to 1.15 million sq ft, making it number 18 in the
list of the UK biggest retail destinations. File:Harlequin Mall.jpg|The
open plan mall of the Harlequin, in the year 2007 File:Harlequin Centre in 2016.jpg|The same area in 2016 Following Intu Properties plc entering administration in June 2020, a subsidiary of the company called Intu SGS received funding to take full control of the centre along with Lakeside, Victoria Centre and Braehead. The transfer from Intu to Intu SGS is expected to take place by the end of 2020, and will involve Global Mutual becoming asset manager of the centres and
Savills serving as property manager. On 4 March 2021, new owners Global Mutual announced the renaming of the centre to atria Watford. It is named after the skylights spanning its roof. The shopping centre was officially renamed Harlequin Watford on 3 July 2025. ==References==