Middlesbrough Council is in discussions with two separate groups about plans for the House of Fraser building.

The department store on Linthorpe Road closed on Sunday after almost 100 years of trading in the town. The final day saw hundreds of Teessiders descend on the store to pick up bargains as 50 per cent was slashed off prices.

In July 2020 the council bought the building for £1m at the same time it acquired Captain Cook Square for £8m using cash from the £14.1m Future High Streets Fund grant.

The council’s chief executive Tony Parkinson has now revealed the council is already looking at new uses for the building with plans expected to be discussed in the next week.

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Speaking at Middlesbrough’s overview and scrutiny board meeting, he said: “We’ve been in discussion with two separate parties about proposed uses for House of Fraser. Richard Horniman (regeneration director) is doing further work on those proposals and we’re due to discuss them in the next seven days. I’m hopeful we will come up with a solution that brings that back into use relatively quickly.”

When it came to Debenhams, the top officer said the council didn’t own the site – but it was looking at whether it would make sense to acquire it.

Mr Parkinson added: “We’ve got a lot of exposure already on that – we’re also in discussions about potentially doing something at the other empty unit at that crossroads. I call it the Chelsea Girl unit – I know Chelsea Girl doesn’t exist any more – but it’s the smaller one diagonally opposite the House of Fraser building where we have potential to bring that back into use as well. That is a really strategic part of the town centre so want to get something going on in those buildings as quickly as we can.”

The chief executive said it was more likely House of Fraser and the building nearby would see action before the Debenhams site. At a council meeting in 2020, an officer suggested the House of Fraser building could be transformed into a market hall similar to the Leeds Corn Exchange.

Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston has also reacted to the department store’s closure and said he has great memories of House of Fraser from when he was a youngster.

He added: “It is a sad day when House of Fraser, or Binns as I still call it, closes. I remember it as a boy in the 1970s and 80s as an incredibly glamorous place. It always seemed to be full of beautiful women at the make-up counters and genteel older ladies having lunch in the restaurant upstairs.

“My fondest memories are of the wonderfully polite lift attendants who’d make sure you got to the floor you wanted without having to climb all those stairs.

“But the world has changed. And almost every city and town has lost its department stores. I knew this day was coming and I was determined to make sure that this magnificent building didn’t fall into the wrong hands. So I made money available for the council to buy it – picking it up at a knock-down price during Covid of £1m.

“We’re now hard working on exciting new ideas for the building and I believe that it can, once again, be a busy and exciting place that we’re proud of. But I will always remember Binns so very fondly.”

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The Middlesbrough store was scheduled to close in 2018, however, it was rescued when Mike Ashley bought the brand. According to ITV News in April 2021, the department store had not been paying rent since the council took over the building the previous year.

In November last year, the council refused to confirm whether or not the store was paying rent and a freedom of information request was denied as the council claimed it was commercially confidential information.

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