THE FORMER Next store in Newport city centre could be a step closer to a new future.
Council planners have granted listed building consent for the ground floor of the premises, at 152-153 Commercial Street, to be converted into two shops.
Next moved into the Friars Walk shopping centre several years ago, and its former home became a charity shop, and then later a clothes store.
It went up for auction in September 2022.
The successful bid is just one option for the building to be repurposed – documents show there are several other applications in progress to secure planning permission for the building.
And in 2021, council planners gave permission for the upper floors of the building to be turned into flats.
In a statement, agents KW Dorrington architects note the ground floor of the property originally comprised two separate shops, but these were later combined into one larger retail area.
The agents said the works, if they go ahead, would “bring a positive improvement to the street scene in the city centre” and would “not detract from the listed nature of the building”.
Council planners said there would be “a lot of modern fixings and there is very little [in the way of] historic features of interest that remain visible within the shop units at the ground floor”.
“The proposals are considered acceptable as no original fabric would be harmed and the original planform of the retail units would be restored,” they added.
