M Core, the investment and asset management business, has bought The Gate, the 235,000 sq ft leisure complex on Newgate Street in Newcastle city centre for an undisclosed price.
The announcement comes within five months of its purchase of Eldon Garden, the shopping centre on Percy Street.
The Crown Estate, which bought The Gate from the property company Delancey for £60m in 2012, marketed the complex in October 2025 with a guide price of £15.65m, about a quarter of that figure.
The Gate is anchored by a 12-screen Cineworld cinema and Bally's Casino. Other occupiers include Lane7, Fayre Play, Nando's, Pizza Hut and Wetherspoon's The Keel Row. It has a 275-space car park that opens 24 hours a day. Sheet Anchor Evolve, part of M Core, will manage the site.
Sheet Anchor Evolve co-founder Danny O'Keefe said: "Newcastle already has a thriving leisure and visitor economy, and The Gate has an important role within it as the city centre's only covered leisure destination. Our approach will be to work closely with the occupiers, understand where we can make a real difference and invest in the areas that will strengthen the destination over the long term."
M Core says Newcastle's 30-minute drive-time catchment covers more than 1.5m people and that the city has about 45,000 students.
Land Securities built The Gate at a cost of £80m on the site of the Mayfair Ballroom, a concert hall that opened in 1961 and closed in 1999. The Gate opened on 28 November 2002. The Crown Estate spent more than £3.5m refurbishing it four years after buying it and more than £500,000 on fire safety improvements in 2023.
Eldon Garden is about 80,000 sq ft over three levels, with direct access to Eldon Square and a 480-space car park. Its occupiers include Tesco, PureGym and The Goose pub.
Sheet Anchor Evolve announced the purchase on 29 April, alongside Northfield Shopping Centre in Birmingham, and did not disclose the price. The seller was The Peer Group. The centre is held on a long lease from Newcastle City Council.
In December 2018 the Chronicle reported that Eldon Garden was more than 85 per cent empty. The Peer Group, its owner at the time, offered units rent-free for about a year to attract tenants.
M Core also owns properties in Sunderland, Whitley Bay, Wallsend, Jarrow and Durham.
Tia's Mexican Cantina opened at The Gate on 3 September. Funstation is due to open there, with no date announced. Savills, which advised M Core on the purchase, and Smith Young are joint leasing agents.