A FORMER Co-op branch in Leamington is set to be turned into a number of shops and student accommodation if plans are given the go-ahead.
The Warwick Street store has sat empty for more than a year, and now an application has been submitted to Warwick District Council to turn the building into four new shops with 11 student flats above.
Owner Hardeep Malle has been unable to find anyone keen to take over the three-storey building as a single retail venture, and now hopes to turn the bottom floor into four smaller stores and the top two floors into accommodation. There would be ten two-bedroom flats and one three-bedroom flat.
Mr Malle said: “Since the closure of the Co-op in 2015 the building has remained empty, unable to attract a retail use requiring three storeys of accommodation.
“Making use of the currently unused upper floors of the building to provide much-needed additional student residential accommodation near to the centre of Leamington is sustainable.”
