Bracknell Forest Council's new leader has put the long-stalled former Bentalls site, now called 'The Deck', at the top of the borough's agenda after the authority's annual meeting on 13 May 2026.
The boarded-up plot near The Bull pub has sat empty since the department store was demolished in 2021, prompting questions from residents about its future.
Council leader Helen Purnell said she had been "pushing hard to open up the land known as the Deck in the town centre". Opposition leader Gareth Barnard added the Conservatives would be "creatively working to complete the regeneration vision, especially the Deck".
Bentalls opened in 1973 and was rebranded as Fenwick in 2017. Plans once imagined restaurants and leisure in a figure-of-eight layout, but in 2023 the scheme was dropped as changing economic conditions affected viability.
The council has blamed Covid and rising construction costs, despite planning permission being granted in 2019. In October 2023 the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership confirmed the project had become "commercially unviable" and that a "major rethink" was underway.
Suggestions since have ranged from open green space to retail or mixed-use, and there is interest in temporary uses while longer-term plans are developed. Cllr Paul Bidwell said: "Now that the transition to the new owner is complete, I'm looking forward to understanding what their plans are for the former Bentalls site."
Ownership of the town centre remains split. The council is responsible for the highways in Braccan Walk, the High Street and Town Square, while The Lexicon estate includes Princess Square and the former Bentalls site. The Lexicon was bought last year by Realty Income in a deal estimated at £150 million; the company, valued at around £58 billion, is still understood to be assessing its position. For now, the site's future is uncertain, though its redevelopment is widely seen as central to the next phase of Bracknell's town centre evolution.
Ted O'Neill, Local Democracy Reporter
