Retail the right way to go at former Co-op
Priority is to attract high street name
ATTRACTING a high street retailer to Hinckley’s old Co-op store is now the priority as the council seeks to secure a sustainable lease.
Almost £1.5 million of taxpayers money was spent on purchasing the site, largely to ensure the car park reopened to reinvigorate struggling trade up Castle Street.
Since the acquisition in October various suggestions have been floated as to the future of the former food and furniture outlet.
Ideas have included a bowling alley, indoor market or partial conversion into flats.
However, members of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s executive committee have now called time on all options apart from retail, with ambitions to obtain at least a medium term commitment of up to 10 years.
As part of the plan a section of the store frontage, which once housed a mobility equipment supplier, will be set aside as a temporary home for Hinckley’s famous, and now fully restored, Hansom Cab
Mike Hall, leader of Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council, said: “We want to concentrate on getting retail back into the building. The other options are not being pursued.
“Proposals such as a bowling alley, while a nice idea, would be unlikely anyway because of the cost of setting it up and limitations of the size of the building.
“With it being a former retail space that is the simplest and quickest solution for its future. If we carried on talking about pursuing this and pursuing that it puts people off and delays things. We are not out to make a phenomenal income from the site, if we can get the money back over a number of years that will suffice.”
Cllr Hall said interest in the building was high with various retailers, including food stores and homewares merchandisers, appearing keen.
It is hoped negotiations will result in at least a medium term tenant for between five and 10 years, if not a longer term commitment.
Offering the space for more temporary trading activities has not been ruled out while main rental discussions are ongoing.
Meanwhile the authority has agreed to spend £28,000 to refurbish the former shopmobility unit fronting Castle Street into a base for the Hansom Cab.
Longer term it is hoped the cab will be housed in a special extension to Hinckley and District Museum on Lower Bond Street. Fundraising and grant applications are taking place to support this.
The two-wheel horse-drawn carriage was developed and tested in Hinckley by Yorkshireman, Joseph Hansom. He patented it in 1834.
His invention was exported to dozens of countries and was so popular it was dubbed ‘the gondola of London’ by Victorian PM Benjamin Disraeli.