UK's oldest mall on the market for £75million as 458-year-old site seeks new ownership

UK's oldest mall on the market for £75million as 458-year-old site seeks new ownership The Royal Exchange was established in 1566 as London's first purpose-built centre for trading stocks and has grown to become the city's luxury shopping destination The UK's oldest shopping centre is on the market, just for years after being sold for millions of pounds. The iconic retail element of London's Royal Exchange was been put on the market for a reported £75million. The site sold for just under £50million in 2022. The Ardent Companies UK, a subsidiary of the Atlanta-based asset management firm, bought the property in 2022 from Oxford Properties in an effort to enter into the retail market. The site is London's only luxury shopping destination. The 51,400sq ft site houses brands such as Tiffany & Co, Hermès and Fortnum & Mason. The site's footfall increased by 12 per cent last year, with 99 per cent of the floor space occupied by retail, restaurants and bars, according to The Standard. A wealthy merchant, Sir Thomas Gresham, established The Royal Exchange as London's first purpose-built centre for trading stocks in 1566. It was modelled on the world's oldest financial exchange, the Bourse in Antwerp. In 1571, The Royal Exchange was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth I. She awarded it a royal title and a licence to sell alcohol. In 1660, Sir Gresham added two additional floors to the original trading floor. These floors were used to house retail businesses and effectively created Britain's first shopping mall. The building has a wealth of history, including the proclamation of King Edward VII in 1901 , surviving World War II - albeit with damage caused in 1941 by bombing during the Blitz - and the transformation into a luxury shopping and dining destination in 2001.