The site is located within the town of Cotgrave, 8.5km south-east of Nottingham. Cotgrave Shopping Centre is located towards the north of the town centre, within the medieval historic core. The site is bounded on all sides by extensive modern residential and commercial development, whilst agricultural land dominates the wider landscape. The footprint of the new retail units measured a total of 776 square metres, with the footings for the foundations measuring up to 50m in length along the south-western and north-eastern faces. Footing depths ranged from 0.8 to 1.2m. Excavations for the south-eastern foundation exceeded depths of 1.8m and a width of 2.5m; the trench was then filled with a concrete blinding layer to a depth of 0.5m. This depth of foundation was not observed across the rest of the site. A single large ditch was recorded during the watching brief. The site lies within the northern periphery of the town of Cotgrave, which saw relatively little in the way of commercial or residential development until at least the mid-20th century, The date of this feature is unknown but it is likely to be the remains of a post medieval field boundary, first recorded on the Sanderson Map of 1835. No other archaeological features, finds or deposits were identified during the course of this watching brief.