The £1.2 million sale of a key Trowbridge shopping centre should be completed by the end of this week after tenants were told that it has been delayed.

Local property developer David Campbell, who is a director of several companies, is negotiating the prospective purchase of the Castle Place shopping centre.

He is understood to be buying it for £1.2m through one of his companies, Belgravia 17 Investments Ltd, which is registered to an address at Washington Road on the West Wilts Trading Estate.

Mr Campbell, 58, told the Wiltshire Times: “It’s just one of those things. We will have it wrapped up this week and then we’ll move forward.

“I have got a marketing team who are knee-deep with accounts and rebranding and things like that.

“We have got some good ideas moving forward so I would like to do something with you guys but now is not the time.”

The Castle Place shopping centre was sold prior to a public online auction in May after attracting more than 100 interested parties, including local developers.

A spokesperson for the auctioneers, Acuitus, said the centre was sold for around three times its guide price of £400,000.

Wiltshire Times: The mall and stairs down to the market hall at the Castle Place shopping centre. Photo: Trevor PorterThe mall and stairs down to the market hall at the Castle Place shopping centre. Photo: Trevor Porter (Image: Trevor Porter)

The company confirmed that contracts for the sale have been exchanged.

But tenants have been unsettled by recent uncertainty after several shops closed and after hearing that the sale has not yet been completed.

They were told in a letter hand-delivered last Thursday (July 20) that the sale has been delayed without a reason being specified.

Naomi Chivers, a senior property manager with APAM, the centre’s property managers, said: “Until you are advised otherwise by APAM, APAM remains the property manager for Castle Place and Donna Stephens remains the centre manager.

“All rents, service charge and any other sums due under the terms of your lease or license are payable to APAM in the usual manner. If you have been withholding payments, please make sure these are now transferred without delay.

“I appreciate this may be an unsettling time but be assured that business continues as usual and we will make sure you are informed of any changes at the appropriate time.”

Mrs Stephens, who has managed the centre for the past seven years, declined to comment on the sale.

A spokesperson for the shopping centre managers, APAM UK Ltd, said: "We do not comment on private transactions."

Sitting on a prominent 1.73-acre site on Market Street, the Castle Place shopping centre was put up for sale by its owners Nexus Properties Ltd.

The centre was built in 1974 and has 475 car parking spaces, as well as a market hall, and the shopping mall within its curtilage.

Castle Place has lost several tenants in recent months, including Shaws the Drapers, Mainlys hardware store and a McColl’s convenience shop.

Some years ago, J D Wetherspoon’s Sir Isaac Pitman pub, in a listed building on Market Street, also closed.

But it is generally acknowledged that the centre is in need of significant investment and new tenants to make it more attractive to shoppers.

Mr Campbell is currently involved in converting a property at 8-9 Narrow Wine Street, Trowbridge, into seven one-bedroomed flats after gaining planning consent in December last year.

He is listed at Companies House as being a director of several active companies, including Belgravia 17 Investments Ltd, Inova Developments Ltd, Inova Construction Ltd and Acre Construction Ltd.