IN PICTURES: Take a look inside Peterborough's former TK Maxx store which has just gone up for sale

The photographs across a couple of floors in the four storey building, which sits on the corner of Bridge Street and Bourges Boulevard, give a glimpse of some of the challenges facing any prospective tenant.

But this building, which has previously been home to the long gone retailer, Woolworths, as well as TK Maxx and New Look, has just been put on the market by owners Peterborough City Council.

And any future buyer could end up demolishing the building and replacing it with an iconic structure more in keeping with the site’s position at a gateway to the city centre.

According to the sale brochure produced by agents Montague Evans, the 90,907 square feet building has potential for residential redevelopment for about 50 units but offers will also be considered for redevelopment proposals.

Adrian Chapman, the council’s executive director of place and economy, said: “We should be proud of this site. At the moment it is difficult to be because the building is a slug of a building.

“I imagine it with something on there which is iconic in style and nature and is a real gateway into our city centre.”

He added: “This is a really significant site in our city centre and a site that deserves a building upon it which is of some significance, of quality and offers real value to the high street.”

The TK Maxx building was originally bought by the council as the base for The Vine community and cultural hub for the city. However, the cost of doing up the building was found to be too high and now The Vine will be split across two sites, the Central Library and the Victorian former rail shed at Fletton Quays.

It has been suggested the building could become a conferencing and banqueting venue but no plans were submitted to the council.

According to details held by the Land Registry, the former TK Maxx building was bought for £3,975,000 by the council on December 15, 2020 from Picton UK Real Estate Trust, based in Guernsey.