Bargain store at historic men’s club

A popular local discount retailer has asked Blackburn with Darwen Council to approve its largest and latest store, after work has already been carried out to transform a long-dilapidated site.

The former Cob Wall Working Men’s Club on Daisy Lane had become something of an eyesore, laying derelict for the last two decades after serving the local community for around a century.

But, in recent months, its shabby exterior has been completely overhauled by the owners of Bargain Basket, a cheap cash-and-carry style supermarket that proved popular with shoppers in February when it opened its first Blackburn store, at the top of East Park Road.

This follows years of uncertainty about the former working men’s club, with various applications to turn it into everything from a wedding venue to a restaurant eventually falling through, in part due to strong opposition from nearby residents.

Through this litany of lapsed applications, the case for it changing to a retail use had been established long before Bargain Basket moved into the premises.

In making the case for retrospective permission for the changes made to the Daisy Lane site, Urban Future Planning said that its client ‘seeks to put it to effective use, one that promotes consumer choice in the locality, results in urban regeneration and creates jobs for local people.’

This includes a retail offering catered to the demographic makeup of the local area, with the application stating that a majority of people in the area are Muslims from a southeast Asian background.

As such, the store is stocking products catered to residents with that background, including specialty import items alongside fresh fruit, vegetables, and an in-store butcher serving halal meat.

They are also planning to install a café at their new store, which is significantly larger than their first shop in the town.

As the site has a large pre-existing parking area attached to it, as well as a great deal of free on-street parking, the application argues that Daisy Lane is the only available spot in town that caters to its business model and which wouldn’t have an impact on the local area.

Dark cladding and paint are already up on the outside of the building, with internal refurbishment work also clearly underway at the new Bargain Basket, where construction materials can be seen lying around the perimeter.

Ending the application to gain permission for the changes already made to the site, Urban Future Planning stated: “The proposed use is not considered a noise generating use and the comings and goings associated with the proposed use would be indistinguishable from the already higher than average levels of activity seen in the locality and there are no residential properties abutting the site.

“Allowing the use will not jeopardise living conditions, especially as the building is detached and orientated away from residential receptors.”