WORK has finally begun on the demolition of a former discount store in Highcliffe – more than four years after it closed its doors for the final time.

G&T Original Warehouse on Lymington Road in Highcliffe shut up shop in January 2018.

Many applications were put forward to redevelop the site, including plans to turn it into a hydrotherapy pool. However, these plans were withdrawn in May 2019.

It was instead agreed that the store would be replaced with a four-storey development comprising of a ground floor retail unit and nine apartments above.

Bournemouth Echo: Work has started on the demolition of the G&T store on Lymington Road, Highcliffe, over four years after the store closed its doors for the last time. Photo from Jane Dean of Highcliffe Action Team

Yet a subsequent application put forward in September 2020 to increase the number of apartments to 15 was granted in July 2021.

Highcliffe resident Hans Bauerschmidt said: “I hope the retail unit fills up quicker than the new ones in the centre.

“There will be even more empty retail units after they pull down the lovely old buildings that housed HSBC and Barclays banks, even though it’s really just for multiple levels of flats above the retail units.

“Remember how long it took to fill the units which replaced the old Tudor Antiques Shop, and what exciting thing went in there? A care agency and a hairdressers which only moved from near co-op to there.

“Exciting times ahead for Highcliffe, raise the flag for progress.”

The G&T store was known for adorning the village’s clock, originally presented back in 1911 to mark King George V’s coronation.

Feared that it would be condemned with the building, a successful community campaign launched by The Highcliffe Action Team and helped by local businesses saw the clock reinstated as a Coronation Clock tower which is now situated outside Flowers By Design, Wedding Specialist on Lymington Road.

Jane Dean, from the Highcliffe Action Team, said: “There’s a genuine fondness for the former G&T’s shop, but it’s been lain dormant for many years now, so it’s good to see demolition works replacing the derelict building with a new commercial shop unit with flats above.”