A new B&Q store is set to open on one of Brighton’s busiest shopping streets.
The hardware chain has applied for permission to install new signage at the unit in North Street, on the corner of King Place.
It was previously occupied by Poundland, but that shut in February, reportedly because the store could not renew its lease.
The application, from B&Q, asks permission for a sign saying B&Q Local, the DIY chain’s new brand which started rolling out last year.
There are currently eight B&Q Local stores in London, and another in Staines, Surrey.
The smaller stores typically carry 3,500 product lines, including key cutting, paint mixing and kitchen and bathroom design.
Nearly all of the store’s full range can be picked up from the local stores through its Click and Collect service.
The opening comes as another hardware store just a few streets away announced it was closing after more than 100 years in business.
Dockerills in Church Street will be closing at the end of September, with the family business blaming declining footfall and increased overheads.
It intends to keep its head office above the existing store, which it will rent out to a different store.
Great news. That shop could have stood empty for many years.
Seems pretty sad that this is announced the same day a local independent hardware store, Dockerills, announcing it it’s to close in central Brighton.
Something a bit depressing about this given last week’s news of Dockerills closing down
Great, so we will have the junkies selling hammers now…
Looks like Dockerills are closing just in time. Good luck and best wishes to them all.
B&Q are hopeless. I suppose a city centre store makes sense for them as their big stores are just full of huge quantities of identical goods with very little variation or choice, e.g. their hardware section seems to be simply a Yale outlet.
If only it looked like that at present. Already become an eyesore since it closed down.