More town centre homes a regional trend - expert

Thousands of new homes are being built across Berkshire in coming years

A plan to replace a leisure complex with homes is part of a wider trend across the South East, an expert has said.

The 28-lane Hollywood Bowl at The Point in Bracknell closed for a final time on Monday after it was told to vacate the site ahead of a redevelopment.

Bracknell Forest Council's Local Plan, which outlines where development should go in the borough until 2037, proposes 900 new homes should be built on the current site.

Prof Steve Musson, the head of geography and environment science at the University of Reading, said there was a demand for homes in Berkshire's town centres.

Along with the plans in Bracknell, hundreds of homes are mooted for Maidenhead, including 850 of them at the Nicholson Centre.

Another 640 are planned for Broad Street Mall in Reading, and redevelopment plans for 317 homes at Newbury's Kennet Centre were approved in September.

"Think about in our area, how many new apartment blocks are going up," Prof Musson said.

"That's because there's money in this, so it's certainly something we will continue to see while there's demand for these properties.

"In some respects it points to the way our town centres are changing. These are places that are always changing and this is what change looks like at the moment -they're not museums.

"[This is] the reality of this global trading and investment in our area - it's something that you don't see everywhere.

"In some respects, property in the South East of England is at the cutting edge of these changes."

The bowling alley's operators in Bracknell said at the weekend that 5.3 million people had visited it since it opened in 1990.

The ODEON cinema at the same complex closed in May.