MILLIONS of pounds of new retail investment have been announced in Bolton.

Two new fashion stores have moved into the town’s flagship shopping centre while Next has announced it will build a £12 million superstore at Middlebrook.

New Look and Scotts have moved from the Crompton Place to rival shopping centre the Market Place — ahead of the launch of a new cinema next year.

A new £700,000 nightclub — Level — is also set to launch in Bolton next week.

The Market Place is currently undergoing a £14 million redevelopment which will bring a cinema onto the site and will see restaurants and bars set up shop in the refurbished Victoria vaults in the centre’s ground floor.

Chicken giant Nando’s and Italian restaurant chain Prezzo have already agreed to move into the centre and The Bolton News understands several more big names could be announced soon.

As well as New Look and Scotts, The Market Place has also recently welcomed well-known jewellery chain Pandora aboard.

And Market Place bosses have now indicated that another major retailer — labelled a “game changer” — is also set to open its doors in the revamped centre soon.

On the outskirts of The Market Place, the country’s largest professional hair and beauty suppliers, Sally Salon Services is set to open its doors in the new year and mobile phone network EE will be launching a new phone shop in the former Santander building in Deansgate.

For Bolton Council’s Director of Development and Regeneration, Keith Davies, the influx of retailers is the culmination of years of planning.

He said: “For some time now we have been working towards getting to a position where the town centre regeneration really starts to gather momentum and that is now starting to happen.

“We are not just talking about the big development schemes, like the Market Place and the transport interchange, but also the consolidation and improvement of the retail offer and we now have evidence that this plan is working.

He added: “We hope to continue to see new and unique businesses opening up in the town centre.

“The more that we build on our leisure, retail and culture offerings — then the bigger the footfall we will get in Bolton town centre and that is what we want to see.”

The Market Place development is expected to be fully completed in April, when the new nine-screen cinema will welcome film-lovers for the first time.

More restaurants and bars will be announcing their arrival into the historic vaults in the New Year.

One business that has already opened is the Great Ale Year Round bar, which already has a unit inside Bolton Market.

Market Place manager Nikki Wilson-Cooke is very pleased with the transformation taking place at the centre.

She said: “I am over the moon with how things are going, it is great to be welcoming big names like New Look into our centre.

“We obviously want to be seen as a place with a high fashion offer and we have some great brands coming in — there is another big name on the way but I can’t say at the moment.”

She added: “It is great to have New Look opening before Christmas, they annihilated their targets on their first day of trading so let’s hope that continues, it all looks very positive.”

Paula Wood, centre manager at Crompton Place, said: “While we are sorry to see Scotts go, plans are in place to bring a new retailer into the unit, which we will be able to announce later in the year.”