Plans for a store in Buxton’s Spring Gardens are due to be revealed, with the new owners of the building due to announce the planned retail maintenance to transform the former Marks and Spencer store into an exciting new retail venture. 

In January 2019 it was announced that the Spring Gardens M&S would be shutting down after 85 years of trading in the town, and the building has remained empty since then—so it is welcome news to local residents (and good news for the retail industry) that the premises will be brought back to life.

Leader of High Peak Borough Council, Councillor Anthony Mckeown, said: “The council is in close contact with the new owners while they revise their proposals, and we are expecting them to announce proposals shortly.”

It is also hoped that the new store will help to increase visitors in the area of Buxom, with Roddie MacLean, Director of Vision Buxton, saying he’d love to see more made of the rear of the buildings that back on to the River Wye.

“The primary aspiration of Vision Buxton is the building is urgently brought back into some use which contributes positively to the commercial and civic life of the town centre,” said MacLean. “I met with the new owners last year and, at that stage, they were thinking about a series of shop units exploiting the ‘desire line’ between Spring Gardens and Waitrose.”

The building has a blank face to the area around where the River Wye emerges, which was identified for enhancement as part of the draft Future High Street plans.

“Think how much more lively and inviting it would be if the cars were moved elsewhere, the river was opened up and the buildings which overlook it,” said MacLean, referring to the two floors of the old M&S building, with “big windows so that you could see the activity inside.”

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