Deal with centre hangs in the balance

THE owner of a Cork shopping centre has given Marks & Spencer until Friday to sign a new lease to take over a former Roches Stores plot or he will withdraw from negotiations with the retailer.

However, Joe O’Donovan, majority owner of Wilton Shopping Centre, said he has already lined up another “large” retailer willing to take on the 45,000sq ft plot instead.

If that does happen, he said, the “bulk” of the 172 Roches Stores staff, who were due to be taken on by M&S and who feared they would lose their jobs, could be taken on by the as yet unnamed retailer.