pounds 325m sale helped Church coffers

The Church Commissioners, who pay the pensions and subsidise the salaries of the Church of England's clergy, said the pounds 325m sale of their most famous asset - the Metro Centre in Gateshead - was a "substantial" step towards recouping their losses from disastrous property speculations in the 1980s.

Capital Shopping Centres has secured a 200-year interest in Europe's largest covered shopping centre while the Commissioners will retain the centre's freehold and are entitled to 10 per cent of net rental income.

It had been hoped that the centre would raise more than pounds 500m, and recoup more than half the losses of the 1980s.

The sale was made by the new management team appointed in 1992 after the scale of the catastrophe in the property market became apparent.

Andrew Brown, the Commissioners' chief surveyor said: "A number of offers were received but it was clear that CSC's was most advantageous ... By reducing our involvement in the Metro Centre, yet at the same time retaining a significant investment in it, we have taken a substantial step forward in rebalancing our investment portfolio."