FORMER VIDEO STORE OPENED BY GLADIATOR CONSIGNED TO HISTORY
A PART of Burton’s skyline has gone for good after the town’s former Blockbusters store was torn down to make way for a new supermarket.
The grey steel former video and DVD rental store once occupied a site off Orchard Street, next to Burton Rugby Club’s old Peel Croft ground, which will also be demolished to make way for a new Lidl.
With its disappearance, we thought readers would like to hit the rewind button and go back to April 1994 and the day that the store opened.
Gladiators star Wolf was on hand to perform the opening ceremony.
Wolf, or Michael Van Wijk, was very popular at the time, so it was no surprise a lot of people wanted to come and see him.
Blockbusters closed its store in 2007 and the building has been rarely in use since.
As well as a Lidl supermarket, the new development will include three other retail units. There will be one car park with 202 spaces.
The original entrance to the Blockbusters site has been fenced off while demolition and building work takes place. The ageing wooden boards separating the rugby club from Lichfield Street have also been replaced with smaller blue fencing ones.
The old rugby club stands have now been removed but its main clubhouse buildings are still in place for the moment.
The rugby club finally left Peel
Croft in March, last year, after securing new facilities in Tatenhill. It used the sale of the Burton ground to fund its move.
The original plans had been marred by the financial crisis of 2008 which impacted the sale of the land.
Lidl is hoping to create 60 jobs when the new store is finished.
The new layout will see proposed customer access via a priority junction from Lichfield Street, with an exit only onto Orchard Street. Servicing would be via a dedicated service access from Lichfield Street.