Pressure is mounting to redevelop a Trowbridge town centre eyesore after a developer bought it as part of a £7.8 million deal.

Legal and General Property are the new owners of the former Tesco site in St Stephen’s Place, dubbed Mount Crushmore by locals, and the Castle Place Shopping Precinct.

It bought the sites from receiver GVA Grimley, which is acting on behalf of Thiyan Developments. The former owner went into administration in 2008, dashing hopes of a leisure and office complex.

Business leaders are now urging the new owner and Wiltshire Council to get on and redevelop the prime site, which has lain derelict for 12 years.

The plea follows a warning from Adam Nardell, Wiltshire Council’s vision director for Trowbridge, that it could take at least five years for building work to get under way.

Mike Williams, chief executive of the Wessex Association of Chambers of Commerce, said: “We would like to see it developed as soon as possible.”

But a long-awaited cinema for Trowbridge could be on the horizon. Legal and General Property’s head of transactions, Gordon Aitchison said it is in talks with three operators, including Vue, which was earmarked for the failed Waterside project in the town.

Mr Aitchison said: “We have a number of operators who have contacted us expressing an interest in the site. Meetings are being set up. Clearly the town needs a cinema.”