Empty department store blights town, says council

A former Debenhams store that has been empty for four years is "blighting" a town, a council said.

The four-storey Waterloo House building in Ipswich town centre has been vacant since the department store chain stopped trading in 2021 as a result of the continued rise of online shopping, the Covid lockdown and other factors.

Labour-controlled Ipswich Borough Council said the building's owner, Unex, had rejected several applications from "well-known retailers" to take over the site.

Unex has been approached for comment.

Last year, Adrian Morris, Unex's managing director, said that while the company had seen interest in the building, Lloyds Avenue, which runs up the eastern side of it, needed to be pedestrianised to help secure a decent deal.

In a statement, the council said: "The former Ipswich Debenhams sits at the heart of the town centre.

"It's stripped out, vacant state has a blighting impact on the town and it is deeply disappointing that its Suffolk-based owners have not been able to get it reoccupied.

"Despite not owning the building, we continue to seek ways to bring about a re-occupation as we know that this would have a significant impact on the town – just as our recently announced action on the Grimwades building opposite will when it's occupied later this year after some 12 years vacant."

Out in the town centre, Callum Kempton, 24, hoped the unit was filled soon and claimed that in its current state, it brought an "empty feeling" to the town given its position at one corner of the Cornhill main square.

"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.

He believed the unit was well suited to a multi-functioning space similar to the nearby Buttermarket Shopping Centre which offers shops, dining, a cinema and leisure facilities - a "massive mix of environments... a ball of everything".

Fellow shopper Susanne Knot, 75, said she also hoped to see a new occupant take over the derelict building.

"It's awful," she said. "When I was a little girl we used to come into town and there was all the shops... you didn't used to be able to get in the door at Debenhams. It's such a shame.

"[Waterloo House] is an eyesore at the moment and it needs businesses in there so our town can thrive again."

Debenhams shut after online fashion retailer Boohoo bought the brand and its website for £55m, but closed the 118 stores.

It was built in 1975 and Debenhams' tenancy agreement started on 8 August 1977, according to sale documents.

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