BOSSES at Crompton Place are to consult traders in the Gates Shopping Centre over their £14 million takeover of the complex.

Discussions with the Gates' existing businesses will take place over the coming weeks.

They will talk about the possibility of scrapping the Gates' name and calling the entire complex Crompton Place.

Details of a refurbishment, estimated to cost around £2 million, will also come under scrutiny.

Paul Wray, a director of Hermes, the company which owns Crompton Place, said it was important to involve the neighbouring centre's tenants in discussions about its future.

He said: "We are looking at making improvements to signage, flooring and lighting and it is possible the name of the Gates' will go but all that will be done with the blessing of the tenants.

"There will be no reorganisation of the layout of the centre at this stage although that is a possibility in the future if it is decided there is a need."

Crompton Place chiefs snapped up the Gates in a deal worth £13.4 million. It followed weeks of talks once it was established that Ardwood Properties Ltd, which owned the Gates Shopping Centre, was willing to sell.

Ardwook owned the 105,000 sq ft Gates for just 18 months. It had bought the property from Boots in June 2002 for £11 million.

The latest takeover will create a shopping centre spanning 335,000 sq ft making it one of the largest indoor complexes in Bolton. The Shipgates Centre opened in 1990. The name was later shortened to The Gates.