WELL, it is good news that Binns on Darlington’s High Row has been bought, apparently by a local property company rather than an Arabic fund, and that House of Fraser is to stay.

It must be massive relief for all concerned with Darlington town centre. If that enormous building, a classic 1930s white department store, had fallen empty it would have created a horrible, desolate feeling for those shops and stalls in and around the market who are trying to make a go of it. Once that air of dereliction takes hold, it is very hard to shake off – just look at Newgate Street in Bishop Auckland.

But if House of Fraser had shut, what else could a building of that size have been used for? Without parking, it is too big for residential, for offices or for an alternative commercial use like gym.

The fact that it is to remain a shop is a vote of confidence in Darlington town centre, both in terms of someone wanting to own property in it and in terms of House of Fraser finding it profitable enough to want to stay in it.

Let’s hope that should the Scotch Corner designer village ever open – and its start date has been pushed back from October 2023 to March 2026 – it will be able to compete with that, too.

Generations of Darlingtonians have shopped for Christmas at Binns ever since it opened in 1922. It is not the same as it was, it can’t be, but hopefully it can continue to offer townspeople a service and, in doing so, it can keep the lights on in this key property.

READ THE FULL STORY: HOUSE OF FRASER TO REMAIN IN DARLINGTON'S BINNS