Convenience store to open in listed city centre building in 'next few weeks'

A SECTION of a listed city centre building is being converted into a convenience store.

A sign for Comelocal Convenience was recently installed on the Grade II listed Sunwin House – the former TJ Hughes department store.

A Tiktok account with the same name was recently set up showing works to the inside of the section of the store facing Sunbridge Road, near the Thornton Road NCP car park.

Set to songs including New Order’s Blue Monday and Beyonce’s Texas Hold Em, the Tiktok videos say the store will be opening “in the next few weeks” and will stock “home essentials, bulk buy bargains and American sweets and drinks.”

Historic England has described Sunwin House as being a hugely significant building, describing it as “An early and influential example of the open store principle, with lifts and stairs tucked around the edges of the shopping area, and also had the first escalators to be installed anywhere in a Co-op store.”

The heritage body’s listing for the building adds: “Its unaltered appearance both externally and internally is extremely rare and its importance is recognised in written sources both contemporary and recent.”