Rugby courts Green at Covent Garden

COVENT GARDEN developer Rugby Estates is to call on Arcadia owner Philip Green to open a new Top Shop in the area.

Rugby chairman David Tye made his promise as he declared his latest £10m purchase of a massive block for redevelopment on St Martins Lane and New Row would be worth £40m once it was turned into shops and flats.

He said: 'Everyone wants to come to Covent Garden. Tourism is back, the hedge funds and advertisers are taking space and rental levels have stabilised. I only wish there was a Top Shop and I will be speaking to Philip Green about that.'

Rugby manages the ING Covent Garden Partnership, a £121m fund with shops and offices in the area in which it owns a 9.8% stake.

Vacancy rates among the fund's properties had fallen to 3% at Rugby's half-year which ended on 31 July, Tye said, compared with an average of 9% for the area.

The 46,000 square feet St Martins Lane site was bought in August and is located just behind a small Tesco store.

Having a Top Shop on the south side of the Covent Garden's central square would put Green in direct competition with Marks & Spencer, whose Long Acre store on the north side is one of the chain's largest between the West End and the City.

Rugby upped its triple net asset value per share, its break-up value, to 329p, a rise of 30p since January.