Bringing the mill back to life
Home Bargains store will create 40 jobs on historic site
23.11.2018 A new £ 800,000 Home Bargains branch in Johnstone has created 40 jobs.
The company will open a store at the former Paton’s Mill tomorrow at 8am.
This is the company’s first store in Johnstone, joining over 500 outlets across the UK, and operations director Joe Morris says it will be great for the area.
He told us: “We’re thrilled to be launching our first store in Johnstone and look forward to welcoming customers through the doors.”
The 15,000 sq ft unit, next to Aldi, will offer shoppers a range of products, including homewares, health and beauty essentials, sweets, snacks and drinks, as well as fresh and frozen food.
Mr Morris added: “Paton’s Mill will be a great location for us and we’re proud to be able to offer local people top-branded goods at exceptionally low prices.”
With more than four million customers each week, Home Bargains is one of the country’s best- loved discount retailers, stocking top- quality branded goods at low prices.
There will also be a Starbucks coffee shop drive-thru at the High Street entrance to the site, while Aldi is allocated in a 17,000 sq ft site.
Dating from 1782, Paton’s Mill was the founding building of the then new town of Johnstone and was in use as a textile factory for more than 200 years.
The site at the High Street was opened originally as a cottonspinning factory but was later used for lace manufacture.
It was built by the Corse and Burns Company, and it predates by four years the New Lanark cotton mill in Lanarkshire.
Paton’s took over the mill in 1896 when its first factory in Clark Street was destroyed by fire.
It lay derelict for a number of years and attempts to bring in developers were unsuccessful.
Architect firm Stallan-Brand was given the green light by Renfrewshire Council to demolish much of what was left – apart from the old chimney, which was demolished in October last year.
Sections of the historically- important property were partially destroyed by flames in 2007, 2009 and again in April and May 2010.
The blaze in May 2010 caused catastrophic structural damage to the main building and it collapsed.
Over the years, many of the important architectural features on the site – which housed mechanics’ machines shops, dye houses, boiler houses, warehouses sheds and a courtyard – were lost.
The building became dilapidated and was attacked by vandals who smashed windows and lit fires.