No Anticipated Reopening of House of Fraser Store, Now Up for Sale for £10m

Published on: 5 Nov, 2024
Updated on: 5 Nov, 2024

September 23: the final day of House of Fraser trading in Guildford. Photo David Rose.

By Martin Giles

There is no prospect of the  House of Fraser department store on Guildford High Street being reopened or being redeveloped in the near future, Tom Hunt, GBC’s lead councillor for Regeneration and Economic Development, told the council’s Overview & Scrutiny Committee yesterday evening (November 4).

Cllr Catherine Young

Cllr Hunt, who said the store was now on the market for offers in excess of £10 million, was asked for an update on the situation by Cllr Catherine Young (R4GV, Clandon & Horsley). She said: “…we really are lacking a department store in Guildford, and this site is pretty central to our town centre…”.

Cllr Hunt reminded the meeting that site owners Canada Life, encouraged by the council, had been close to making a deal with Fenwick 12 to 18 months ago but in the end the gap between them was too wide.

Tom Hunt (Lib Dem, St Nicolas)

Cllr Hunt said: “I have explored whether other partners were interested in taking a stake, but we couldn’t find anyone with the appetite or with sufficiently deep pockets. So the building is now on the market, and I understand the agent is asking for offers in excess of 10 million.

“It’s a difficult site for anything but a very large retailer, and it doesn’t easily lend itself to other uses, including, not least because of the listed status of the Jellicoe Gardens on the roof. So it remains to be seen what a new owner may want to do with the building.”

The property is being advertised as possibly suitable for retail, leisure, residential, student or senior living but any change of use would be subject to planning permission.

Cllr Hunt concluded: “I would really like to see the site say it’s a viable retail unit, but I can’t offer any assurances that’s what’s going to happen, I’m afraid.”

Bright Hill

Cllr Maddy Redpath

Cllr Maddy Redpath (R4GV, Castle) followed up by asking for an update on Bright Hill, the site on the southern side of Sydenham Road, most of which has been used, until recent years, as a car park.

The council, she understood, did not want to repair the barriers necessary for it to function as a car park again because it is destined to be a housing development. “That was when I first was elected, five years ago,” said Cllr Redpath, “so I was just wondering what the progress is on the housing development, or the sale of the land, or what’s happening.”

Cllr Hunt responded: “The former Robin Hood Pub [which stood on the bottom lower part of the site] was bought by a developer and has been demolished. We are working with that developer to enlarge the site and allow them to develop across the lower part of the Bright Hill car park.”

Preparations were thought to be ongoing but no planning application had been received, however the intention, said Cllr Hunt, is for the site to be developed including the lower part. Discussions were ongoing around the principle of the council selling part of the site owned by the council to enable the “proper” operation of the remaining part of the site.

“Shaping Guildford’s Future”

Cllr Young also asked for an update on “Shaping Guildford’s Future” (SGF), the consultation programme which was considering the best options for town centre development and on which GBC has spent £2.5 million, to date.

Cllr Hunt said the subject was due to be considered soon by the council’s Executive. Progress had been necessarily slow because of recent financial constraints.

The flood alleviation scheme, now under the leadership of the Environment Agency, with involvement from GBC, the National Trust, and Surrey County Council, has moved forward with program planning and hydrological modelling of the flood risk, surveying and public consultation all being undertaken over the last few months.

“The Shaping Guildford’s Future team and the Local Plan teams have been sharing data to leverage work already done by the SGF team for the Local Plan update.”

The SGF team, he said, was working with the Local Plan team to enable sites such as Woodbridge Road areas, but also Bedford Wharf and Millmead, to enable them for housing, stressing that the prior implementation of appropriate flood defences via the flood alleviation scheme was absolutely critical and discussions with a key land owner were ongoing.

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