THE boss of Bolton’s soon-to-be flagship shopping centre believes it is essential that retail once again becomes a real force in the town.

Nikki Wilson-Cooke is the manager of Bolton’s Market Place Shopping Centre, which is currently undergoing a major £19 million re-development.

The project, which includes the creation of a nine-screen cinema complex, restaurants and bars being fitted into the refurbished ground-floor vaults and bigger and better shops joining the centre, is on track to be fully up and running early in the new year.

The centre will also be sponsoring one of the key gongs being handed out at this year’s Bolton and Bury business award event, organised by The Bolton News.

The glitzy bash will take place at the Macron Stadium on Thursday September 10 and Mrs Wilson-Cooke and her colleagues will be deciding who should be named Retailer of the Year.

She said: “We are delighted to be involved with these awards and I think it is something that the premier shopping centre in the town should play a role in.

“Retail is a big part of the town and we really want to bring it to the forefront of people’s minds by showing everyone who is doing a fantastic job.”

“The things we will be looking for in terms of qualities is someone who is delivering excellent service, results and evolving their business constantly — we want to identify those who are showing everyone else how its done.”

The awards cover Bolton and Bury and Mrs Wilson-Cooks said the blueprint laid out by The Rock Shopping Centre in Bury is something that she hopes the rejuvenated Market Place can emulate and improve upon.

She added: “Having a good shopping centre is vital to the economy of a town and The Rock has been a great success with its choice of shops, cinema and leisure offers — we don’t currently have that all in one place in Bolton, but when the job here is finished we hope to be even better than The Rock.”

The redevelopment, funded by The Market Place owners, The Moorgarth Group, is on schedule, with a giant luffing crane currently starting the process of building the steel frame that will house the cinema.

It is hoped that the first film will be the new Star Wars blockbuster, which will be screened at the centre on December 18.

Work is also continuing apace to refurbish the historic Victorian vaults beneath the centre, with bars and restaurants preparing to move into the site.