The Be Richmond group says it is confident the empty House of Fraser store will be redeveloped on a mixed use basis including retail, leisure and offices.

The future of the building has been thrown into doubt after – as revealed by Nub News – it emerged the owners have put it up for sale.

The owners, Canadian and Arcadia, first lodged a planning application to turn it into a mixed use of retail and offices in 2019 and this was approved in principle in 2020.

However, they have decided not to go ahead with this scheme after, apparently, being unable to find the major tenants that will make this viable.

As a result, it has put the building up for sale on a freehold basis amid suggestions it wants £23million.

The fact it the building is now up for sale suggests that it could be more than a year – possibly several years – before the landmark building is revived from its current moribund state.

One local property expert suggested that any new owner will want to lodge a new planning application that would see the top three or four storeys converted to flats with retail and leisure on the ground floor and in the basement.

At one stage, it was suggested that Marks & Spencer might be interested in moving in. However, more recently, names like Aldi and TKMaxx have been linked to the building.

Be Richmond is the group representing over 300 businesses in the town centre and its role is to ensure the area remains attractive to residents, retailers, other businesses and services.

It has indicated that it supports redevelopment of the building according to the original planning application and is confident this will be possible.

It said: "Be Richmond understands Canadian and Arcadia's position regarding the former House of Fraser site at 80 George Street.

"However, given Richmond town centre's success in attracting high quality retail and hospitality businesses over the last year, we are confident that the site will be quickly snapped up and converted into a thriving multi-purpose retail, leisure and office development."

Canadian and Arcadia said: "We have been working incredibly hard to secure tenants for 80 George Street and have engaged with a number of well-known retailers to secure a pre-let that would enable us to bring forward the redevelopment without doing so on a speculative basis.

"During that time we had numerous approaches from investors and developers in an increasingly buoyant market. We have taken the decision to list the property for sale and find a new owner with the resources to deliver the scheme.

"Initial strip out works have been completed and the approved plans remain in place for a high-quality retail, leisure and office scheme which will transform this landmark building and create enormous employment opportunities.

"We believe there will be considerable interest in the site and we hope to provide greater certainty in the coming months."