Opening for Walsall 'car supermarket' at Showcase Cinema announced as pictures show latest work

Trade Centre UK is aiming to open up the centre on Bentley Mill Way and next to Junction 10, where the Showcase cinema used to be.

New photos taken this month show the cinema – which once attracted long queues for the latest releases – has been wiped from the scene, with nothing remaining apart from the frontage.

A "car supermarket" will open next year and it is expected to become the largest of its kind in the Midlands, with work expected to start shortly.

Tim Carr, CEO of Trade Centre UK, said: "The development of the former showcase cinema is integral to our plans to extend our market-leading position within used car retailing in the West Midlands region, following on from our recent opening of our new store in Small Heath, Birmingham.

"We expect to open in Walsall in 2023 . We have been working closely with Walsall Council planning and regeneration colleagues as our plans for the site evolve. Whilst we await the final approvals necessary from the council before we begin our major construction work, we are hopeful that we are only weeks away from receiving these now."

The branch will replace the current store in Wednesbury which will be redeveloped into a "central preparation centre" to support sites in the Midlands, North West and Yorkshire.

And all existing retail staff are to be relocated to the new store and the company has said that it will be hiring extra staff at the Wednesbury preparation centre.

Trade Centre UK is one of the fastest growing used car retailers in the country and was ranked number one independent retailer in the 2020 Car Dealer Magazine.

The cinema was gutted early in December last year with the separate cinema rooms visible, but the velvet seats and screens already gone.

Showcase still has one multi-screen cinema in the Black Country, based in Dudley, close to Dudley Zoo on the Castlegate Leisure and Business Park.