What has happened to the closed Debenhams stores?

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What has happened to the closed Debenhams stores?

Kris Holland

BBC News, East of England

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BBC

The final Debenhams stores shut on 15 May 2021 – marking an end to 200 years on the High Street

It has been four years since former British High Street giant Debenhams closed its final stores. The

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, but what remains of the hundreds of bricks and mortar shops that were once dotted across the ***?

The once-loved department chain traded from its physical shops for more than 200 years and was still opening new ones as recently as 2017.

However, the big stores slowly suffered from falling profits and rising debt as more shoppers moved online – before the coronavirus lockdowns signalled the death knell to Debenhams and many other businesses.

In its wake, town and city centres saw large parts of their High Streets become empty, but some stores have had a renaissance – including as bowling alleys and future lab spaces.

BBC News looks at what happened next with Debenhams’ old shops across the East of England.

From sitcom setting to student housing

In the large market town of Northampton, a department store known as Adnitts – owned by the Adnitt Brothers – first opened on the Drapery in 1871.

Eighty years later Debenhams purchased it and in the following years rebuilt the site, with its name eventually going above the door in 1973.

During the golden age of High Street shopping in 1991, the store became known to millions of TV viewers during an episode of popular BBC sitcom Keeping Up Appearances.

In the celebrated scene, Hyacinth Bucket and her hapless husband Richard were

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– while he was dressed as an astronaut.

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Richard (Clive Swift), Daddy (George Webb) and Hyacinth (Patricia Routledge) were filmed inside Northampton’s Debenhams store

Some 30 years later, on 8 May 2021, the town centre store shut at the height of the Covid pandemic, but the empty spot left behind was to be short-lived.

Plans were soon lodged to demolish the building and create student accommodation in its place.

The local council approved the idea

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.

On nearby Abington Street, a similar fate awaits the former BHS and Marks & Spencer buildings, which later this year will be

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.

A ‘blight’ on the town centre

About 100 miles east in Ipswich, the former Debenhams store resided in a four-storey building in the heart of the town centre.

The shop overlooked the Cornhill – a communal square that has received millions of pounds of investment in recent years, but the store that once boasted a games arcade on the top floor still sits empty and unloved, surrounded by metal fencing.

The borough council has described the vacant Waterloo House building as a “blight” on the town centre.

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BBC

There is reported to have been interest in Ipswich’s former Debenhams store, but it still stands vacant

The council claimed the building’s owner, Unex, had rejected several applications from “well-known retailers” to take over the site.

Unex has been approached for comment, but previously said a pedestrianisation plan was needed to secure a decent deal.

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Callum Kempton said Ipswich town centre had felt “emptier” without Debenhams

Local shopper Callum Kempton told the BBC that the empty building had changed how he felt about his hometown.

“It felt so desolate seeing it disappear because it was the cornerstone for people coming in, and it just makes the town feel a lot emptier by not being there,” he said.

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Debenhams opened in Bury St Edmunds in 2009 as the “flagship” store in the new Ark shopping centre

Neglected Norfolk stores

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Proposals have previously been drawn up to see Norwich’s old department store turned into student accommodation

Graffiti-covered boards decorate the former Debenhams store in Norwich city centre.

Opened

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, the store has remained empty since 2021 following the chain’s collapse.

In similarities with Northampton, developers have

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that would see most of the building knocked down to create student accommodation, with 407 rooms and shops on the ground floor.

However, Historic England has raised objections, saying the character of the city centre’s conservation area would be harmed, with it being close to buildings such as Norwich Castle.

An application was lodged in January 2024, but a decision has yet to be made.

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The Debenhams store in King’s Lynn has remained vacant after it was closed during the first Covid-19 lockdown

In the west of the county, King’s Lynn’s town centre store also remains vacant.

It was shut during the

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and never reopened. Amanda Arterton, who

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in the town for more than 30 years, described it at the time as a “great loss”.

In 2022, plans were revealed for the building that would see flats on the first and second floor and a retail space on the ground floor – but as the

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, work has yet to take place.

A lab space future

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There are plans to build labs where Debenhams in Cambridge used to be

In the centre of the university city of Cambridge, a more futuristic approach is on the horizon.

Before it closed in 2021, the two-storey Debenhams was the biggest store in the city’s Grafton Centre.

There are now plans to partly turn the shopping centre, which first opened in 1983, into office and lab space for the life science industries.

Corstorphine and Wright, the company designing the scheme, said the Grafton had been “in decline” over recent years.

“We identified areas that could be removed to allow for new development, including a vacant flagship Debenhams store and an underused entrance plaza,” it said.

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Debenhams was once the biggest store in the Grafton Centre and was incorporated into its new design in 2017 (pictured), but further shop closures forced another revamp

Opponents argued the plans would impact views across the city, with the campaign group Friends of St Matthew’s Piece describing the proposed buildings as “colossal new structures”.

But the

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and work is now under way.

An archaeological dig began at the site last month, which

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Go-karting plan hits the brakes

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It was once hoped Colchester’s vacant shop would be turned into an entertainment complex

Plans to breathe new life into Colchester’s former Debenhams have come and gone, with a developer pulling out of a vision to run go-karting, trampolining and mini golf inside.

Towering over Culver Square in the heart of the Essex city, the shop was opened as one of its flagship retailers in 1987.

But its derelict setting has become almost inescapable since May 2021, with three permanently closed entrances spanning across three busy shopping roads.

It has been a big blow for an area vying to justify the prestige of its city status, granted in 2022, after also losing

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and Next.

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BBC

Colchester has suffered with a number of city centre shops shutting

Colchester City Council previously said leisure would be at the heart of revitalising the city centre, which it stressed was “on the up”.

But its

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for the former Debenhams has gone back to square one.

Council leader David King said: “Working with residents and businesses, we can help make the best of change in our city, to ensure that – compared to many others – it continues to thrive.”

Bowling alley ‘Bucks’ the trend

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Milton Keynes’ former Debenhams has had a new lease of life as an entertainment venue

Lastly, in Buckinghamshire, the former ground floor of Debenhams in the shopping metropolis of Milton Keynes is now a wide-ranging entertainment venue.

What was once a womenswear section is now a 12-lane bowling alley with arcades, a bar, dancefloor, roller rink and more. Sports Direct now occupies the other floors.

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A 12-lane bowling alley is a feature of the newly opened Lane 7 venue

The new venture – Lane 7 – has only

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, but staff have told the BBC it has been very busy.

They said the former department store, which closed in 2020, was perfect for this kind of venue – with its 40,000 sq ft (3,716 sq m) size.

On a busy day, about 2,300 people have been passing through the doors, with Friday nights and weekends proving most popular.

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#happened #closed #Debenhams #stores

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