The company has pulled out of the £700m Tithebarn scheme in Preston, which has been mired in planning delays, leaving its partner Lend Lease to carry alone with the project.

The Duke of Westminster’s property company has been a major player in the sector since the 1960s and more recently developed schemes like Liverpool One and Grand Arcade in Cambridge.

But Grosvenor’s development director John Irvine announced: “Following a strategic review Grosvenor is refocusing its development activity on building a larger portfolio of medium-sized, retail, residential, and mixed-used projects rather than concentrating on a few large, long-term, city centre regeneration schemes.”

Grosvenor is understood to remain committed to a major town centre redevelopment in Crawley.