BANBURY'S new Castle Quay shopping centre could be the centre of a retail boom, say its new developers, who are selling another seven of their shopping centres.

Sarah Hodges, a spokesman for retail property group Pillar said: "Castle Quay is going to very much dominate retailing in Banbury. The town has a good catchment area and is fairly prosperous, so it's very much a good example of the kind of thing we want in our portfolio."

PillarCaisse, a joint venture between Pillar and a Canadian investment fund, bought the centre from Raglan, which has kept a financial interest.

At the same time, Pillar is selling seven of its other major UK shopping centres to Dutch company Rodamco for £253m.

The 23,200 sq m extension to the existing Castle Centre will have a new Debenhams, Woolworths, Bhs and Next. It is expected to open in March 2000. The Castle Centre, with Marks & Spencer, Somerfield and Boots, will be refurbished.

Simon Windlow, chief executive of PillarCaisse, said: "This is an excellent opportunity for PillarCaisse to acquire a significant shopping centre investment which is well anchored and which will come to dominate its extensive catchment area.

"PillarCaisse will use its shopping centre experience in the letting process over the next 18 months to maximise the rental income and perfect the tenant mix in both the existing and new developments."

The 40 new shops in the new development are not yet being marketed, although PillarCaisse said: "Detailed discussions with some of the larger national retailers are under way."

Healey and Baker and Knight Frank are joint letting agents.

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