Councillors in the Royal Borough have agreed to sell Windsor Royal (formerly Windsor Yards) shopping centre in a bid to reduce the authority’s debts and bring regeneration forward.

The Royal Borough’s cabinet decided at its April 30 meeting to press ahead with plans to sell the site to UREF, a fund managed by AEW, which currently has a lease on the centre with 105 years remaining.

Under the terms of the sale, UREF is incentivised to bring forward a regeneration plan including a new cinema, which councillors voted to approve in 2023. The s106 agreement must be signed before UREF is able to buy the centre and UREF must also enter a construction contract to ensure the cinema is delivered in the first phase.

The full regeneration plans include:

  • A new four-screen cinema
  • 60,000 sq ft of offices
  • A 104-room apart hotel
  • A 22-room extension to the nearby Travelodge
  • Repositioning of some retail and food and beverage units
  • Eight new homes

At present the council receives 33 per cent of the centre’s annual rental income or £1.5 million a year, whichever is higher. But with the closure of the Fenwick store in 2017 and other subsequent closures, the council rarely gets above the £1.5m figure.

The meeting heard Windsor’s retail vacancy rate is now similar to Maidenhead’s 11 per cent.

While the sale price was not made public, councillors heard it was higher than a recent valuation. Capital receipts from the sale will reduce the authority’s debt interest and there will be an uplift in business rates from the regeneration.

Cllr Amy Tisi told the meeting: “I’m extremely excited by this. I think it has been a long time coming and I think that this is particularly going to appeal to residents of Windsor who have sadly seen our town become a little bit quiet and sad at that end with the shops going and things closing down. And, of an evening, it is very quiet there.

“This is going to breathe new life into that part of Windsor.  This is going to be the biggest regeneration of Windsor that we’ve seen, practically since the castle was built, and it’s going to be fantastic because, with the cinema there, families will want to come out in the evenings.

“It will hopefully encourage that sort of evening, sitting out, cafe culture with, maybe, some restaurants in that area to create a really nice feeling.”

Cllr Mark Wilson said the deal with UREF had unlocked a situation which had been stuck in limbo.

He added: “I think with the creativity shown by officers and by the developers, we’ve got a really good deal here. This is above a recent valuation and is a fantastic development for the town.

“I think it’s very noticeable now that the town centre turns very quiet when retailers close, while many other towns have thriving economies into the early evening, especially when the weather’s like this.

“There can be a real buzz in the town centre and I hope the ripple effect will be felt far and wide throughout Central Windsor.”

The sale is due to complete by the end of September.

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