First of all this afternoon’s announcement from Debenhams that the Swindon store will not reopen after the government shut down is a bit of a shock.
Only last week there was a huge sigh of relief when Swindon was omitted from the list of seven store closures announced by the retailer.
What a difference a week makes!
After failing to agree new terms with the landlord of the huge town centre building the decision was made to close, a decision that will affect many Swindon lives.
Whether you shopped at the store regularly or just popped in at Christmas the loss of Debenhams will be felt and unless the landlord can find another occupier to move in, and quickly, the Debenhams closure will affect all of us.
Unless of course they have other plans for the site?
With the landlord, Meadow Residential, a residential property developer (the name gave it away didn’t it), maybe they already have plans to redevelop the building into town centre accommodation with a similar looking project underway in North West London it is a possibility.
Barnet House, which looks not dissimilar to the current Debenhams site has plans for a residential-led development comprising of around 230 homes with ground floor commercial space.
A claim on their website that ‘Meadow can turn around deals quickly and efficiently due to the lack of a need for outside capital’ maybe they were just waiting for Debenhams to try and renegotiate and things will move quickly?
What would you like to see happen with the building?
