{"id":628459,"date":"2026-06-09T01:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T01:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/628459\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T01:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T01:44:16","slug":"metrocentre-is-put-up-for-sale-and-a-familiar-name-could-be-its-new-owner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/628459\/","title":{"rendered":"Metrocentre is put up for sale – and a familiar name could be its new owner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group is being tipped to make a bid for the Gateshead shopping centre\"An<\/p>\n

An aerial view of the Metrocentre(Image: Porterfield PR)<\/p>\n

The Metrocentre shopping centre has been put up for sale – and a familiar name in the North East is being tipped as its possible new owner. Frasers Group, the retail group led by former Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, is being tipped to make a multi-million pound bid for the centre.<\/p>\n

The Gateshead<\/a> shopping centre supports thousands of jobs and attracts millions of shoppers every year. It has been operated by Sovereign Centros since 2020 when previous owners Intu – which owned major shopping centres around the country, including a half share in Newcastle\u2019s Eldon Square – went bust.<\/p>\n

It has been reported that the centre is being marketed by property agent Knight Frank, with a price tag of around \u00a3500m. The start of the sale process comes two months after the Metrocentre and Gateshead Council announced plans for a \u201ccity within a city\u201d<\/a> called Metro Riverside. The plans for land on the banks of the River Tyne would create more than 4,500 homes, while also carrying the potential to generate 5,000 jobs.<\/p>\n

There have also been a number of new shop openings at the Metrocentre in recent weeks, including P Louise and Lovisa.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Metrocentre said: \u201cMetrocentre\u2019s sustained strong performance, combined with increasing investor interest from investors in major retail and leisure destinations, has led Metrocentre to move forward with a sale process to support the next phase of its development.<\/p>\n

\u201cA targeted investment programme of over \u00a360m since late 2020, led by Sovereign Centros, has transformed the centre – attracting strong occupancy across a diversified tenancy mix including exciting new brands and upgrades and expansions for existing operators. This helped drive footfall to reach over 16m for the first time since the pandemic, up 5.14% year-on-year, alongside continued income growth.<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

Inside the Metrocentre(Image: Metrocentre)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is early days in this process, so the team is fully focussed on ensuring the centre continues to thrive, as one of Europe\u2019s most extensive retail and leisure destinations, by supporting its tenants, delighting its customers, and driving growth in the North East region.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Metrocentre was first opened 40 years ago on the site of a former power station. The centre was developed by Sir John Hall\u2019s Cameron Hall Developments with backing from the Church Commissioners of England.<\/p>\n

The centre has hundreds of shops and restaurants, as well as a cinema, leisure facilities and a health centre. It is thought to be the UK\u2019s second largest shopping centre, behind only the Westfield centre in London.<\/p>\n

Reports in the property press have linked Frasers Group with a \u00a3500m bid for the Metrocentre. A bid is also likely from property giants Landsec, which owns a large real estate portfolio in London and other parts of the UK.<\/p>\n

Did you know you can make ChronicleLive a preferred source of North East news in Google, which will mean you get more of our breaking news, exclusives, and must-read stories straight away? Here’s more information<\/a> about what this means and how to do it – you can also do it straight away by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group is being tipped to make a bid for the Gateshead shopping centre An aerial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":628460,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,16093,59,95705,2239,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-628459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gateshead","tag-gb","tag-metrocentre","tag-property-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=628459"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/628459\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/628460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=628459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=628459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=628459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}