Rumours of a bleak times ahead for Poundland could cost Sheffield another empty department store should the brand go under.
The bargain retailer is navigating talks to save itself from insolvency, after filing a notice last week to appoint administrators and placing as many as 11,000 jobs at risk.
But, for the John Walsh building on High Street in Sheffield, which the budget brand calls home, it wouldn’t be the first time a big British name has come and gone.
The enormous building at the corner of High Street and Castle Square has a storied history, including devastation at the hands of the Nazis during the Sheffield Blitz, a rebirth under Harrods, and a centrepiece of shopping near the Hole in the Road.
Over the years it has been the home of Walsh’s of Sheffield, Rackhams, House of Fraser and T J Hughes.
The enormous building as we recognise it today was broken into three smaller stores in 2013 to make it more palatable to businesses.
But shops with such huge footprints are hard to fill on modern day UK high street, and Poundland’s uncertain future could spell another empty department store in Sheffield city centre.
Is the John Walsh Building Sheffield’s next Cole Brothers?
Take a look at our gallery below for a fly-by history of one of Sheffield’s single biggest buildings and some of the names that have come and gone over the years.
1. Walsh's of Sheffield
High Street, Sheffield city centre, in March 1970, with Walsh's of Sheffield on the left, as the store was known when it was owned by Harrods. The store as we largely recognise it today was bought and rebuilt by Harrods after 1946 and opened in 1953 - the original, historic John Walsh Department Store was devastated by the Sheffield Blitz on the infamous night of December 12/13, 1940.
2. Rackhams, 1979
Snow on Angel Street and High Street showing Rackhams Department store (left), in February 1979. After the Harrods group was taken over by House of Fraser in 1959, the store was renamed Rackhams in 1972. It would be renamed to House of Fraser in 1987. | Picture: Sheffield Newspapers / Picture Sheffield
3. Rackhams - 1985
The Hole in the Road at Castle Square in Sheffield city centre, with Rackhams department store, as it was then, on the left in December 1985
4. Opening day at House of Fraser, 1987
The official opening of the refurbished Rackhams Department Store as House of Fraser Sheffield in 1987. | NSST