Bosses in Oldham have bought the leasehold of a shop in the Spindles shopping arcade for £300k.
The council has purchased the former Topman unit in the Spindles Town Square Shopping Centre ahead of it going to auction.
A spokesperson said the town hall was ‘fully aware’ that the unit was not available when the rest of the Spindles shopping centre was bought in October last year.
The council had then spent £9.5 million on buying up the centre from its capital budget.
The intention is to relocate Tommyfield Market into the complex, and hundreds of council staff into empty office spaces in the mezzanine floors of the shopping centre.