The former Wilko store on Preston’s Deepdale Shopping Park is being readied for reopening – but as what remains a mystery.
An application has been submitted to Preston City Council for permission to make “external alterations” to the vacant unit, which shut down in October 2023 after the chain fell into administration.
The Blackpool Road premises – sandwiched between the Go Outdoors and Card Factory outlets – has stood empty ever since, but now plans have been lodged with the town hall suggesting it could be about to be reoccupied.
The proposal would bring the building “back into an active economic use, creating jobs and wider economic benefits for the Preston area”, according to a submission to city planners.
However, the application has been submitted in the name of “Preston Retail Limited” and gives no hint as to the identity of the retailer set to move in – referring only to a “new tenant”.
The Wilko brand was bought by Chris Dawson, owner of home, garden and leisure chain The Range, who has since said he plans to reopen as many as 300 stores under the Wilko name over the course of five years. The Local Democracy Reporting Service approached Wilko to enquire whether the Deepdale site was amongst them.
B&M Bargains acquired more than 50 Wilko stores which it has been rebranding and reopening in a phased programme, while Poundland bought a further 60 which became part of its store network shortly after they had ceased trading as Wilko.
It is the third time in less than six months that Preston Retail Limited – registered in the Isle of Man – has made a similarly anonymised application for a unit on the Deepdale retail park. In September, the go-ahead was given for changes to the former Game store, work on which is now under way – but still with no indication of the new occupier.
Just weeks later, the one-time Outfit branch was the subject of plans ahead of a proposed reopening – again, with no details given of the business eyeing up the site.
The agent for all three applications – Montagu Evans – has been approached for comment on each occasion, but has not responded.
The changes sought to the former Wilko branch include the creation of new windows in the store frontage as well as the replacement of the existing mezzanine floor level, which does not in itself require council approval, but was included in the application for “completeness”, according to the agent.
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