Elgin Poundland hoping to reopen next month

A town centre store which has been shut for the past six years is hoping to reopen next month.

Poundland has lodged a planning application with Moray Council to put up commercial signs on the Elgin High Street site.

The move marks the end point of the highly complex restoration work that’s been carried out on the B-listed building.

It also bring closer the date when North Street will finally reopen to traffic and means that shoppers should soon be able to walk safely up and and down Batchen Street when it reverts back to being pedestrian-only.

The building previously housed a Woolworths store between 1928 and 2008.

Poundland originally leased the site, but the building was forced to close in May 2018 after serious problems were identified with its roof, leaving it in danger of falling down.

The bargain retailer then bought it outright, making it the only one amongst its 850 stores in the UK and Ireland which it owns rather than rents.

Refurbishment work began on the building to create a mix of retail units and residential apartments.

However, the work encountered problems with the building’s complicated internal structure.

It has also been further delayed first by the pandemic, then by a fire that was started deliberately in August 2022.

To mark its upcoming completion, the boarding panels that stood outside the building were removed earlier this week.

The scaffolding which once stood outside was taken down in April.