MARKS and Spencer in Warrington town centre closed more than five years ago.

While the well-known national brand retains a presence in the town with a huge store at Gemini, many miss the days of its Golden Square and Sankey Street shop.

This town centre unit still remains vacant after closing in summer 2017.

An unnamed high street giant was rumoured to be close to agreeing a deal take on the site in 2019, but the move never came to fruition.

The Warrington Guardian recently asked Warrington Borough Council if it had received much interest regarding anyone taking on the unit over recent years.

We also asked whether the council is still actively seeking a business to move in.

In response, a spokesman said: “We retain the freehold interest for the building on Sankey Street, but it remains subject to a long lease to Marks & Spencer.

“Therefore, we are not in a position to actively market the space.”

The 87,182sq ft shop was placed on the market in June last year, with the listing stating the unit boasts a ‘prime trading location’ across basement, ground, first and second floors.

It added that a 125-year lease at £30,000 per annum remains active, with more than 80 years remaining on the deal at present.

Marks and Spencer first opened as a stall in the old Warrington Market.

It was successful enough to move into a small shop, which may have been in Bridge Street, before moving into the store many people will remember on Sankey Street.

Janice Hayes, a Warrington historian, said in her book Warrington's Photographers: “Marks and Spencer arrived in Sankey Street in the 1930s in anticipation of the imminent plans to widen the street and redevelop the Market Place.

“It was designed with a temporary single storey frontage which soon became a permanent feature.

“Eventually pedestrianisation replaced road widening schemes and in 1977 a new Marks and Spencer’s store opened in the first phase of Golden Square.

“In 1978 the original store on Sankey Street and its neighbours were demolished.”

Marks and Spencer was founded in 1884 by a Polish refugee, Michael Marks, who opened the chain’s first market stall in Leeds.