Ipswich Wilko closes next week leaving another big gap

Ipswich's Wilko in Upper Brook Street closes next week - and as the shutters come down another large store will site empty on the high street.

That has increased concerns at the borough council and in the business community as yet another large retail unit becomes empty.

It joins the former Debenhams on the Cornhill, BHS in the Butter Market street, H&M in Tavern Street, the former Co-op and Woolworths/Poundland in Carr Street and Tessutti/Next in Westgate Street.

BHS in Ipswich closed in 2016 and there is little sign of the store being used again in the near future. (Image: Newsquest)

And at present there appears to be very little prospect of any being occupied in the near future.

Senior Labour councillor Colin Kreidewolf is also chair of the borough's property company Ipswich Borough Assets (IBA) which owns several properties in the town centre including the Deichmann store on the edge of the Cornhill.

Colin Kreidewolf is frustrated at the number of empty large shops in Ipswich town centre. (Image: Charlotte Bond)

He said: "It is looking difficult at the moment, and the closure of the Wilko store will be a real blow to the town centre.

"I'm not aware of any interest in it - and when you look at what is happening elsewhere in the country it isn't too hopeful for us."

Some Wilko stores in town centres have been bought by rival budget chains B&M and The Range.

But there already is a B&M in the town centre, in Carr Street, and the Range has a store on the Suffolk Retail Park which is not far from central Ipswich on Yarmouth Road.

In other places other retailers are expected to look at their stores - in Bury St Edmunds there is speculation that Lidl could take over the Wilko site that was originally built as a Supermarket in the early 1980s and has a large car park next to it.

Mr Kreidewolf said a major problem with the town centre was that so many stores were controlled by the Fraser Group - the chain that runs stores ranging from Sports Direct and Game to Jack Wills and House of Fraser.

He said: "So many of our closed shops are under the control of one group - and they will not engage with us. 

"They've talked about their plans for them in the past - but haven't responded to us for some time so we have no idea what is happening to them and when. It is very frustrating."

Structural work has been going on at the former Debenhams store since it was bought by Cambridgeshire-based property company UNEX, but there is still no word on how it might be split or when a tenant might move in there.

One glimmer of hope for the Wilko site is that it is in a convenient place in the town centre with Sainsburys next to it and the Cox Lane car park opposite.

Wilko - then using its full name - moved into the store about 20 years ago. (Image: Newsquest)

Built in 1970 for C&A, the building has twice had to find new occupiers. In 1992 after C&A moved to the Buttermarket centre it became an MVC music store and when that company collapsed about 10 years later Wilko moved in.

That suggests retailers like the site - so it is possible that it might find a new tenant before too long, but it is rather a large premises and the number of chains looking for that kind of space in a town centre location is limited.

And the borough accepts that now is not a good time to be looking for major new investment in town centres - economic uncertainty with question marks over hanging over the next direction that inflation will be moving and political uncertainty with a general election on the horizon make it a difficult time for businesses to be making big investment decisions.