HOME Bargains is trying to move into an empty unit at The Peel Centre but the retailer is facing stern opposition from the builders of The Lexicon. A planning application has been lodged for Home Bargains to move into the vacant store Next used to occupy at The Peel Centre. The applicants want to convert part of Unit 4a into space exclusively for the sale of food. Documents attached to the application indicate Home Bargains want to use 30 per cent of the floor space at the 1,862 square metre site for this purpose. But the proposal has irked the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership the group that delivered The Lexicon and the refurbishment of Princess Square.
It is hoped demolition experts will hand over the site to builders by June 3, 2021. According to documents submitted by the applicant, the demolition works will cost £690,000. Should planning permission be granted for the condition to demolish Bentalls, work would take place from 8am to 6pm every weekday, and up to 1pm on Saturdays. Demolishing Bentalls would make space for The Deck, a new public space featuring bars, restaurants and entertainment which would link Princess Square to The Lexicon. Plans to create The Deck were approved in 2017 but this new submission is to discharge two conditions related to the demolition of Bentalls which were attached to the original application.
AS 2020 has been a year like no other, we look back at how life unfolded for the town over the past 12 months and revisit some of the top stories from the year. JANUARY brought with it the closure of a much-loved and long-standing staple of the local area – Newman’s shoe shop. The store closed after 126 years serving the town from its home in Crowthorne’s High Street. Owners said it was a sad choice but one made due to many people opting to shop online. The move left many shoppers gutted to see yet another independent business forced to close.
The Deck, Bracknell By now, the development of The Deck is a well-established project within the community with plans formally approved in 2017. But the project took its biggest steps forward in 2020 with two major milestones passed. Featuring new bars, restaurants and entertainment hotspots, The Deck will replace the former Bentalls department store. But later in the year, the Bracknell Regeneration Partnership, the joint venture group overseeing the project, informed BFC it was worried about the viability of the scheme and may not be able to proceed unless it received a cash boost in order to demolish the Bentalls store. Fortunately for the group, councillors from across the county came together at a meeting of Berkshire’s infrastructure board in November to approve the funnelling of almost £1 million of taxpayer funds towards the project.