Once cleared, the Crompton Place area in Bolton will become one of Britain’s biggest inner town development spaces
The redevelopment of the Crompton Place Shopping Centre area includes linking Victoria Square to Bradshawgate(Image: )
The developer behind Manchester’s NOMA district has been chosen to progress the £200M transformation of the former Crompton Place shopping centre in Bolton.
MEPC has been chosen by the council to lead the development the site in the heart of the town into a mixed-use development. The scale of the cleared area will be such that it will become one of Britain’s biggest inner town development spaces.
Almost completely vacant, the huge complex, which was the beating heart of the town’s retail space for more than 50 years, is set to be demolished this year.
Bolton council, who bought Crompton Place for around £15m in 2018, want to build a more attractive area and hope to see a mixed catalogue of uses for the vast site which faces the epic Victorian splendour of the town hall and nearby Le Mans Crescent.
Once demolished, the Crompton Place area the capacity to deliver up to 340 homes, a hotel, 80,000 sq ft of office space, and 5,000 sq ft of ground floor leisure.
In late 2025, the council said part of the 1.55 hectare area, larger than the size of two football pitches, would have a ‘meanwhile use’ which could last for around seven years while redevelopment takes place behind.
A footpath bounded by hoardings will pass through the site and provide a straight link between Victoria Square and Bradshawgate for the first time in decades.
The area in red shows the huge scale of the demolition area (Pic Chapman Taylor)(Image: )
At the planning meeting which approved the plans, council leader Nick Peel said ‘none of us can underestimate how massive this application is for Bolton town centre’.
He revealed that the authority was in talks with several developers who would take on an ‘oven ready’ cleared site.
This week MEPC was revealed as that developer. They describes themselves as an ‘imaginative developer that provides dynamic long-term stewardship and the creation of transformational places with the future in mind’.
They are the developer behind NOMA in Manchester, a 20-acre site with new homes, offices, hotels, shops, restaurants and bars.
Other projects they have completed or are leading include Wellington Place in Leeds, Milton Park, Oxford and the Paradise development in Birmingham.
Bolton council leader, Nick Peel, said: “I am delighted to confirm that the cabinet has approved the appointment of a new developer for the flagship Crompton Place regeneration project.
“This developer has a very impressive track record of delivering major multi-million-pound developments in some of the UK’s biggest cities. “The decision comes at the end of a robust and highly competitive selection process.
“We are now subject to an eight-day legal ‘stand still’ period, after which we look forward to sharing more details of the exciting future for Crompton Place.”