Barnfield and council buy shopping centre

Pearl, the public private partnership between Barnfield Investment Properties and Pendle Council, has acquired Colne's 1970s shopping parade in Market Street from administrators Duff & Phelps and the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation.

Only three out of 14 units in the 34,000 sq ft parade are vacant and Barnfield said there is active interest in two of those.

Tim Mulholland, head of property at Barnfield Construction, said: "Architects are currently working on a new façade scheme which will help modernise and improve the shopping experience in Colne. We have continually invested into Pendle both through our joint venture with Pendle Council and through our own speculative developments over the last three decades. Colne is very close to our heart and we are looking forward to making it a better place to shop which in turn will hopefully encourage an increase in the local economy with new shoppers venturing into the town."

Barnfield Construction hopes to be on site to carry out the works before the end of the year.