An "unloved" leisure park is set for a fresh lease of life after being sold to a new owner.

The Colonnades, in Purley Way, is to change hands and could finally welcome new shops, restaurants and attractions into the space vacated by one of its key tenants five years ago.

The park lost its bowling alley, Laser Quest zone, amusement arcade and sports bar when the City Limits entertainments complex closed amid financial difficulties 2010.

The 100,000sq ft plot they occupied has remained empty since, although other Colonnades tenants - including Pizza Hunt, Premier Inn, McDonald's and Kidspace adventure playground - are still trading.

A London property firm has agreed to purchase the entire 160,000sq ft site from its current owner, Italian fund Vegagest Immobiliare, with the sale expected to be completed in mid-November.

Ian Rusbridge, director of retail consultancy Smart 4, asset manager of the Colonnades, promised the new landlords would be more "proactive" than previous owners.

He said: "There were will be quite a bit of activity on the park as we look regenerate the scheme, bring in new occupiers, take advantage of its prominent location and make this more of a destination for Croydon.

"It is the first lump of real estate you come to as you drive up Purley Way from the south, but it has been unloved in recent years.

"It is a good time for it. Croydon is on the up and you could argue it is a city in its own right. There are some very exciting plans for the overall regeneration of Croydon, you've got a huge catchment and the Purley Way generally is one of the very best destinations for out-of-town retail and leisure in the south."

Lidl and Aldi are among the retailers to have enquired about opening shops on the site, while a climbing-wall operator, a gym company and restaurants have also expressed an interest.

A drive-through Costa coffee shop, already planned before the sale, will be the first new addition when it opens in December.

The new owners - who Mr Rusbridge declined to name - are to buy the site as part of a wider portfolio of property and exchanged contracts six weeks ago.

Mr Rusbridge said they hoped to have new tenants onsite in about a year but that efforts to improve the neglected park's reputation would begin immediately.

He said: "Ultimately our plan is going to be to convert the City Limits to provide new retail and leisure space, which obviously we need consent from the council for.

"We are going to start with simple things like changing the signage and cutting down the foliage so that it makes the site more welcoming and friendly, especially for women and children.

"If you are go onto the playing fields next to the park is just covered in rubbish, so we are going to do a litter pick once a week and keep the entrance around the park cleaner and tidier."

The Colonnades opened in the late 1990s at the former site of the Croydon Water Palace, an indoor water park.

Smart 4 is a consultant to 14 other retail parks in the UK and has provided advice on the sale of 30 others.