Wolverhampton's Peel Centre: Transformation boosted by opening of Home Bargains shop
A former shopping centre that was gutted by fire is being given a lease of life.
The Peel Centre on Stafford Street, Wolverhampton was attacked by arsonists in 2011.
Since then, work has been carried out to open a multi-million pound Home Bargains store at the centre.
The store opened on Saturday with people queuing down the Stafford Road to be the first inside.
Joe Morris, operations director at Home Bargains, said: “The store opening was a great success and we’d like to thank Wolverhampton residents for their warm welcome.
“We’re thrilled by the response we’ve already seen from shoppers in Wolverhampton and are looking forward to seeing even more new customers come through the doors. We’d also like to thank all staff members for ensuring the launch day ran as smoothly as possible.”
The Peel Centre was devastated by a major blaze in 2011 and just one firm, United Carpets and Beds, has continued to trade from there.
The smoke-damaged shell was being demolished as part of the work on Tuesday, with construction workers on the site to carry out it's removal.
Cherry pickers were also spotted at work to demolish the former Furniture Warehouse at the shopping centre.
Flames ripped through the 80,000sq ft building fuelled by tens of thousands of pounds worth of furniture, including sofas and coffee tables.
City of Wolverhampton Council no longer own the site, with the centre operated by Peel.
Councillor Peter Bilson, cabinet Member for city assets and housing said: "We clearly want to see the area improved. I would like to encourage Peel as the developers to bring in retailers to at least tidy up the site on this key gateway into the city.
"This will in turn improve the offer to people who live, work and shop in the city and encourage more people to visit us."
