FASHION retailer Next is refusing to say whether it is moving to a site left empty by a North-East business.

The clothes chain would only confirm that it is in talks with developer Terrace Hill for the former Dressers stationery shop in High Row, Darlington.

Planning permission has been granted by Darlington Borough Council for alterations and an extension to the site, but Next will not confirm if it is definitely moving there.

The store, which already has a two-storey unit at the Queen Street shopping arcade, and a children's clothing shop in Northgate, is also said to be looking at a purpose-built store in a shopping centre to be developed in Commercial Street, nearby.

A Next spokeswoman would only say yesterday: "We are looking to improve our representation in Darlington, but nothing has been confirmed yet."

It is believed Next will close its two existing shops when it opens at another Darlington site.

It is more than a year since Dressers, one of the town's oldest businesses, closed and widespread criticism followed that such a prominent building should be boarded up.

St Martins, which owns the Queen Street arcade, is in talks with the council regarding the shopping centre development in Commercial Street.