SUGGESTIONS have been flooding in for what should take the place of Malvern’s Woolworths store, which closed its doors for the last time on Tuesday (January 6).

The demise of Woolworths leaves one of the largest stores in the town centre unoccupied and resident-led group High Street Malvern invited Gazette readers to suggest how the should be developed.

An online ballot at www.malverngazette.co.uk has already attracted dozens of votes, with the majority - 52 per cent - favouring Woolworths being replaced by another retail outlet.

Suggestions made include established high street names such as HMV, River Island, Wilkinsons, Debenhams and BHS.

Perhaps fuelled by the slowing economy one suggestion was for popular budget retailer Poundland, while there was also a suggestion that the JD Wetherspoon pub chain, renowned for its competitive drink prices, would be ideal for the site.

Overall 18 per cent of votes have supported a new restaurant or bar, while 10 per cent would like to see a food store and eight per cent of votes cast have been for some form of antique, craft or collectables centre.

Some, including Malvern Civic Society member Dudley Brook, would like to see Woolworths become an indoor market hall.

Tony Byatt, of Cowleigh Bank, believes a permanent market is a long-awaited resource in Malvern. He said the size and central location of the site would be perfect for such a development.

Kathleen Farquhar, who lives in Colwall, believes a market hall would be beneficial for residents as well as attract more people to visit Malvern.

“We lost our flourishing market several years ago, and I do think that shopping in Great Malvern has declined since then,” she said.

Jo and Clive Marlow would like to see a Waterstones bookstore, complete with cafe.

They wrote: “Amazon is great but nothing beats browsing bookshelves and spotting something you have not read before.

“With a highly educated and literate population even in a recession Malvern should be able to support this kind of business.”

One unique suggestion put forward was by Tracey Lawrence, who believes the Woolworths building would be a good location for a deaf club.

She said: “There is quite a high rate of elderly persons who may have become deafened. People who are British Sign Language users and those who would like to learn sign language as a hearing person could practice, maybe within a coffee shop or homely environment.

“Worcester has a deaf club but it would be nice if Malvern had one. It would distinguish it from other high streets and give somewhere people can socialise with others as well as an opportunity to learn.”