Debenhams Sheffield: Department store up for auction again - for just £1

Debenhams on The Moor is being auctioned off on December 11 with a reserve of just £1.

The reserve price is the minimum the seller is willing to accept.

It is the third attempt to auction the building after the shop closed in 2021.

In 2002, it was up for £5m but was withdrawn before the sale. In September it had a guide price of £850,000 but failed to sell.

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Now receivers at Moorfields Advisory, who control the building after the owner went bust last year, are trying again.

It is the latest twist in a long running story.

Last month, the owner of The Moor, NewRiver, attempted to seize possession.

It served a Section 146 notice to try to force Moorfields to surrender the lease on ‘disrepair’ grounds.

The £1 reserve price could offer NewRiver an easier and cheaper way to acquire the building.

Debenhams closed in 2021 after the retail chain went bust. The building on The Moor was snapped up by a company called Lewisham MHA 5 Ltd for £1.5m the same year.

Lewisham MHA 5 Ltd went into liquidation in July last year.

Before then it tried to find a tenant, tried to sell it and proposed a ‘People’s Store’ selling second hand goods.