Shoppers are divided on plans plans to bring an 'eyesore' high street shop back into use. The former Argos building in Bath Street, Ilkeston, is set to be turned into 11 flats and two retail units on the ground floor.
The store has been vacant since Argos closed in 2010 and shoppers say 'something needs to be done' with the building, with residents labelling it an 'eyesore'. According to plans which have been approved for the site, six one-bed and five two-bed flats will be created on the upper flats. The bottom floor will be turned into retail units with new shop signs.
Shopper Mary Oldershaw, who is 72 and from Kirk Hallam, told Nottinghamshire Live that there’s lots of empty shops on the high street and they need to get people in the area. She said: “I know people have got to live somewhere but I don’t know.
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“There’s so many empty shops - we do need to get people in. It’s swings and roundabouts. It would be nice to see shops at the bottom and flats at the top.”
Peacocks in Bath Street is closed and now up for sale and Ilkeston shoppers said they’d been left with ‘nothing.’ Angela Goacher, 63, from Ilkeston, says ‘something needs to be done with the vacant building’ and says it’s an ‘eyesore.’
She said: “Shops are just disappointing - it’s sad really. People need the shops back on the high street.
"People can’t get anything. I know people have to have somewhere to live. Something needs to be done with it, it's an eyesore really.”
The town is also due to lose HSBC bank on Bath street and it has been confirmed to close this September. Another shopper, Linda Haywood, 70, retired, told Nottinghamshire Live ‘it’s making it more of a residential area.’
She said: “I’d rather see it as a shop, you’re making it more of a residential area. It’s more a shopping area - it’s spoiling it really. I suppose people have somewhere to live.”
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