THE owners of the historic Victorian Arcade in Accrington have taken the premises off the market after a rethink and say the town centre is now the place to be.

Birmingham-based In Shops, which is part of Mentmore Abbey, put the complex up for sale earlier this year but because of recent developments in the town -- principally the announcement of a new multi-million pound market square scheme -- have decided to keep hold of their investment, believing it has excellent long-term prospects.

The arcade, in Church Street/Warner Street, was by bought by the firm -- which used to be called Birkby -- in a £750,000 deal in 1998.

The listed building is comprises 19 shops and and 15 offices above and Michael Callan, operations director of In Shops, which specialises in multi-let retail premises, believes it has huge potential.

He said: "We have decided to stay with it and progress the business.

"Trading is going quite well in Accrington and we are going to finish off letting the last shop next week and the offices have started to fill up.

"I believe there is potential to improve the arcade.

"The new market development is going to attract more shoppers into the area and I feel that Accrington is somewhere we should be.

"If negotiations come to fruition we will have 14 of 15 offices let and there is only one empty shop at the moment."

Mr Callan said that he would be opening negotiations with English Heritage with a view to repairing the glass roof and laying mosaic tiling on the floor in a package which would cost in the region of £150,000.

He added: "With vision there is a lot of potential there and we are now looking at it as a long-term investment."

Hyndburn Council's director of regeneration Nigel Rix said that the arcade was an important development in the town centre and the council was keen for it to be restored.