What to do with former Waitrose shop...watch this space

IT has been fascinating watching the town respond to news of a creative solution being proposed to the problem of finding a suitable tenant for our largest empty shop.

The former Waitrose building could open itself to a variety of uses.

And any number of highprofile businesses may have been sniffing around it, without us ever knowing.

Many people, understandably, would love to see it given over for some sort of leisure facility, offering anything from tenpin bowling to soft-play, but we need to be realistic about the Shaw Croft Centre and its position in the town.

It is, despite its odd layout, prime retail space. And as such, it will command a high rental value.

And that’s fine if you’re a business turning millions of pounds over with hundreds of customers every day but it’s unlikely to draw in anyone who specialises in ice rinks.

Splitting the unit into two or three smaller shops, is a very smart move, and it’s likely to attract businesses we might not even have envisaged in the town before.

Watch this space.

It is shame Bargain Buys couldn’t make its store work, and it’s perhaps an even bigger shame that Waitrose is no longer part of our streetscape, but we can’t help wondering what the latter firm’s future in the town would have been if parking fees weren’t so high.

Would Waitrose have pulled the plug if there wasn’t an M&S Simply Food just down the road with free parking right outside? It does make one wonder.

We look forward to welcoming new businsses to the Shaw

Croft Centre, if and when a solution is found, but we can’t help thinking such a drastic remodelling of the building might not be necessary if it was a bit easier and cheaper for us all to pop to the shops.