Fargate: New owner says empty Next plot on famous street could be restaurant and bar
The owner of a prime plot on a major city centre street has unveiled plans which could bring it back to life.
Local firm Sola Estates snapped up the former Next clothes shop site on the corner of Fargate and Norfolk Row last year.
Now, the firm says it is speaking to two potential occupiers and construction could start next year.
The Next store closed in 2019. It was bought by Woodhead Investments of Wakefield which tried for five years to redevelop it. But the project was hit by the pandemic, a building firm going bust and structural problems that led to the building being flattened in 2022.
Adam Khan, development manager at Sola Estates, which has properties across South Yorkshire, said they were speaking to two regional operators of a restaurant and a bar. If a deal was signed construction of a new building could start in 2026 and be complete in a year, he added.
He said: “I’m hopeful, but nothing is guaranteed until everything is signed.”
David Woodhead, of Woodhead Investments, last year announced the sale of the site saying it was a “sad news story for us.”
The firm was granted planning permission in 2023 for a two-storey building and was inviting offers from operators when Sola Estates made a bid for the plot that was “too good to be true.”
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