Vol 26 l Issue 44
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TV host in search for town’s ‘most interesting person’
L AT T E • L A U R I E
30 October 2019
25 YEARS
POMODORO
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JUST WHITE
Tel: 01704 569697 5 WELD PARADE, BIRKDALE VILLAGE, PR8 2DT
R A B E • P I C A D I L LY
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CELEBRATING
Staff shine at NHS awards
As closure signs go up at Debenhams...
COUNCIL URGED TO BUY BUILDING Calls made for authority to step in and develop property to prevent ‘retail blight’ killing the north end of Lord Street
THE closure signs have been put in place on the huge windows of the town’s doomed Debenhams store signaling the start of the end for the Lord Street building. But no sooner had the bleak posters been put in place to alert shoppers of its impending demise, when calls were made for Sefton Council to step in and purchase the building to help redevelop it. There are widespread fears that the Debenhams site could go the way of another failed store in the town - BHS on Chapel Street, which still stands empty several years after it shut its doors for the final time. Now concerned campaigners want to stop the
Store closure signs at Debenhams on Lord Street
NICHOLAS WATSON Opticians
same ‘retail blight’ in the northern end of the town when Debenhams shuts up shop for the last time, thought to be early next year. Debenhams bosses confirmed last month that the Southport store is to cease trading in the new year after a last-ditch legal challenge to the closure failed. Earlier this year, the struggling chain announced that it was undertaking a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA), that would see 22 of its stores close, putting around 1,200 jobs at risk. Last week, a legal challenge was put forward, backed by Sports Direct, claiming the terms of the CVA were unfair – but this was dismissed, meaning that the planned closures of the affected Debenhams stores will still go ahead.
‘We can’t afford another ‘BHS’
Continued inside
Alan Foxall with artwork created by Bridge Inn Community Farm
Veggie faces cause a stir at gardening society’s show GIANT ‘veggie’ faces were among the star attractions at the Southport Chrysanthemum and Gardening Society’s Autumn Floral Art, Pumpkin and Crafts Show at the weekend. The event was held at Marble Place Shopping Arcade on Chapel Street, Southport on Saturday and Sunday and featured exhibitors from all over the North West, competing for more than 20 different types of trophy awards. More on page 5
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