Formby shopping parade to go under the hammer

Cloisters Shopping Centre, an M&S Food-anchored retail complex in the affluent Sefton town, is on the auction block with a £3m guide price.

The 18,000 sq ft Formby retail scheme will be sold at Acuitus December auction if a buyer does not emerge sooner.

Cloisters has been owned by the same London-based property company for 22 years. The Cloisters (Formby) Limited, headed up by directors John Lawson, Leslie Frankel, and Andrew Micheals, acquired the asset for £2.35m in 2022.

The centre boasts nine retail units. Eight are occupied and the other is under offer. M&S occupies 3,500 sq ft and is the complex’s anchor tenant. Other tenants include Oxfam, Savers, and British Heart Foundation.

While the shops are located on the ground floor of the two-storey centre, the 7,000 sq ft first floor used to be home to a gym. The space is currently vacant.

Cloisters generates just shy of £333,000 a year in rent and also benefits from a 180-space car park.