THE former Woolworths building in St Helens town centre has been placed on the market.

The site on Church Street was once one of cornerstones of the high street. But it has had various guises – mainly as budget stores – since national chain Woolies, home to everything from toys to kitchen and dining equipment, gardening supplies and sweet treats, closed.

It has advertised for new tenants repeatedly.

Now for sale signs have been placed on the building, with an asking price set at £400,000. The premises has combined floor space of 23,000 square feet, including the ground floor retail space, a basement and two upper floors.

The retail unit neighbours two other empty units, the former M&S shops and ex-Argos store. Both closed earlier this year, leaving the row of shops a visible indicator of the struggles that town centres are facing.

Investment in St Helens town centre over the past year has primarily been focused on turning empty buildings into residential properties or the creation of food and drink venues.

Experts predict the trend will continue, as national retailers rationalise the number of stores they have in town and city centres and online shopping continues to grow.

Last month the new leader of St Helens Council David Baines said progress must be made on the regeneration of St Helens town centre in the next 12 months

Since unveiling its ambitious regeneration plans in 2017, the only significant progress has been the £26.6 million acquisition of Church Square Shopping Centre.

Cllr Baines said it is important to make people have “pride” in the borough again.

Speaking in may, he said: “It’s something we have to see firm progress on, quick progress in the next 12 months,” Cllr Baines said.

“It’s a priority for residents, it comes up on the doorstep again and again.

“Everyone I know tells me how important it is to get St Helens town centre changed.

“What everyone understands, I think, is that a lot of things that have happened to the town centre are out of our control.”

Cllr Baines pointed to the loss of Woolworths in Church Street a decade ago as having a particularly impact on St Helens’ high street.

He also pointed to the recent loss of Marks & Spencer, which relocated to the Ravenhead Retail Park in March.

“Those two businesses leaving in particular caused a problem, but that was out of our control,” Cllr Baines said.

“What the council has done in recent years is purchased Church Square Shopping Centre.

“It is my intention to do all I can to move forward quickly with the regeneration of the town centre, to provide information for residents so they can see what’s going on and to do all I can to make sure St Helens town centre, Earlestown town centre and all the district centres see the change that people want.”

The decline in the UK high street is not a unique problem to St Helens.

Last year, an average of 16 stores closed per day compared to nine opening daily, according to PwC research compiled by the Local Data Company (LDC).