SHOP owners in Reindeer Court are extremely worried about the future of their businesses after being left in the dark over the sale of the historic Worcester shopping centre.

Owners Redman Heenan Properties have sold the centre to Caldana Investment Corporation for £5.65m.

But David Clark, who owns Sheraton Gifts in the court, said the only information owners had received was a note to say the sale had gone ahead.

"None of the shopkeepers has been told officially about the sale by Redman Heenan," said Mr Clark, also a city councillor and former mayor of Worcester.

"All we had was a handwritten note on the last insurance invoice telling us it was going to change hands on Thursday, May 1.

"We have heard nothing from the new management people or new owners.

"We don't know who the new owners are, and we don't even know who to pay the rent to.

"It is extremely unsettling. No one knows where they stand."

However, Ben Ridgwell head of asset management at Fletcher King, which is acting as agent for Caldana Investment Corporation, said delays in completion had stopped the company informing the shop owners.

He said completion had been postponed until last Thursday, and the new owners could not send out notification letters until that had happened.

"We have no legal right to send out notifications until completion," he said.

"It's like selling a house - you can't move in furniture a couple of days before you complete."

Mr Ridgwell said the notification letters, which will introduce the new owners and provide rent payment details, should arrive with the shopkeepers by tomorrow.

Mr Ridgwell said it was still too early to say what plans Caldana had for Reindeer Court and added that a representative of Fletcher King would meet shopkeepers tomorrow to ask how they thought the court could be improved.