Mystery remains as Plymouth's House of Fraser partially reopens
Plymouth’s huge House of Fraser department store has partially reopened after being closed for 10 days without explanation. The six-story city centre building was open and trading again today after being closed since Monday, last week - but shoppers could only access the first three floors.
The third and fourth floors remained off limits, as did the Dingles Restaurant and the customer toilets on the top-most fifth floor. The Cafe Nero outlet on the ground floor was also closed, but the remainder of that level, specialising in beauty and womenswear, was trading and busy with customers.
The menswear first floor was also completely open, as was the womenswear second floor. But the children's wear, toys and homeware third floor and sportswear fourth floors were closed off with the escalators out of action.
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The escalator from the second floor to the ground floor and the building’s lifts were also not operating. Staff inside the store were unable to comment to PlymouthLive, and certainly not on speculation that the closure was the result of a flood and a power outage.
PlymouthLive has been contacting Frasers Group since the closure but has yet to receive any comment, let alone an explanation about what caused the shutdown. Signs had been placed in windows saying the store was shut due to “unforeseen circumstances” but these were today replaced with ones that said: “We are open. At the present time the cafe and restaurant are unable to operate. Also there are no customer toilets available at present. We hope to resume full operations as soon as possible.”
Staff and shoppers were, however, delighted to be back inside. One worker said: “It was nice to open the doors this morning.”
Customer Angus Pridie, from Mount Gould, said he was pleased to see House of Fraser reopened. He said: “It’s nice to have a store like this, it’s about the only one in Plymouth. It’s all good stuff, but just too expensive.”
Shoppers were left baffled when the store - with entrances on Armada Way, New George Street and Royal Parade - shut on October 14. The building which houses the store is currently on sale for a knock-down £3m after a deal to buy it fell through.
In August 2022 it was reported that a deal to purchase the six-storey block, which also has a basement, for more than £4m was “imminent”. But there was no further news of a purchase and in June this year the pile went back on the market for “in the region” of £3m.
British Land, the enormous property company, acquired the House of Fraser building when it paid £67m for the huge block of city centre shops which extends from Old Town Street and down to Armada Way and included it and the now-closed Debenhams department stores.
The House of Fraser building is let to SDI (Propco 46) Ltd, trading as House of Fraser, by way of a licence at a peppercorn rent. The lease was for 125 years from January 1992, meaning it still has 93 years unexpired. The freeholder is Plymouth City Council.
In 2021 British Land shoved the Debenhams building on the market, with an asking price of at least £3.5m, after the chain shut its entire portfolio of more than 90 UK stores. Essex-based developer BuildVantage Ltd has since drawn up plans to place a two-storey extension on top and demolish and rebuild part of the rear of the building to provide light for flats created in the former sales area of the upper floors. Work has yet to start.
In March this year the huge city centre building that houses Tesco Express and TK Maxx had nearly £2m slashed from its asking price after failing to sell. The building, which fronts onto New George Street, Royal Parade and Bedford Way, went on the market in June 2022 for £6.31m but was re-advertised at a knock-down price of £4.5m.
The Plymouth House of Fraser store was scheduled for closure in 2018 but saved when billionaire Sports Direct mogul Mike Ashley bought the chain out of administration and renamed it Frasers Group. The company is best known for trading under the Sports Direct brand and also owns Jack Wills, GAME, Flannels, USC, Lillywhites and Evans Cycles.
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