A VALUE fashion retailer has signed up to take over the empty Woolworths store in Yate.

The Gazette can exclusively reveal that Peacocks has agreed to take over the lease of the shopping centre premises.

Contracts with centre owners The Dominion Trust were exchanged on Monday and the new Peacocks shop is expected to open in June.

The premises, the second largest in Yate Shopping Centre, will be split into two units and the second shop will be occupied by fellow clothing retailer Bon Marche, which is part of the Peacock Group.

Mark Hull, property controller for Dominion, said: "We are delighted to exclusively tell the Gazette that Yate Shopping Centre has secured Peacocks and Bon Marche, who will be occupying the former Woolworths unit.

"Fit out works will start at the beginning of May and are scheduled to open in June."

He added: "We are proud that Yate has attracted such retailers to the former Woolworths unit and for it to all happen so quickly in today’s economic climate when all you hear is doom and gloom in the High Street.

"It is a real endorsement that Yate is going places and this is thanks to the continued support of the people of Yate, who have been asking for such retailers like these."

Peacocks is a leading fashion value retailer with more than 500 stores through the UK. It was named Best Value Retailer of the Year in 2005.

Bon Marche is a ladies’ fashion chain for the over 45s with clothes in sizes 12 to 22. It runs a bonus club and Spend and Save collectors’ card scheme. Peacocks bought Bon Marche for £51million in 2002.

Woolworths closed its doors for the final time at Christmas after the company went into administration.

It was feared many of the chain’s 800 shops would remain empty for years but Yate has bucked the national trend.

Mr Hull said other retailers, which he described as "household names", were showing a "strong interest" in opening stores in Yate. He said he hoped further contracts would be agreed by the autumn.