London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Carmarthen: What do you do with an empty department store?

Carmarthen: What do you do with an empty department store?

In 2010, Carmarthen welcomed a new £74m flagship Debenhams store in the St Catherine's Walk shopping centre.

Just 11 years later - last May - it closed, leaving a 6,000 sq m void in the centre of the town.

But after securing a total of £18.5m in funding, the old shop will be turned into a centre for the council, health board and cultural services.

Wales' Deputy Climate Change Minister, Lee Waters, said the move was "absolutely the right idea".

Mr Waters said out-of-town shopping, supermarkets, online shopping and the Covid pandemic had created a "cocktail" for town centres to struggle.

According to Audit Wales, one in seven shops in the country were empty, and Mr Waters said town centres needed to become places where people "meet, play, work and where we do a whole range of accessing services".

The old Debenhams store will become the Carmarthen Hwb (Hub) and will house a gym, some of the county's museum collection and a welcome centre for tourists.

It is hoped work will be completed by spring 2024.

The store was spread over 6,000 sq m, meaning there is plenty of space for several different uses in future


A total of £15m of funding has come from the UK government, with a further £3.5m from Carmarthenshire council.

Emlyn Dole, the council's leader, said he hoped the new centre would increase footfall as big shops "were not coming back".

Dr Edward Jones, an economics lecturer at Bangor University, said changes to the high street had been accelerated by the Covid pandemic.

He said: "It's going to be a very different high street to what we're used to.

"Even before the pandemic, we saw them [large chain stores] dwindling and during the pandemic, that accelerated.

"There is a place for them, but that's more likely to be on the outskirts of towns. That's why we have this challenge about what do with our high streets, and getting people back in to the high street."

Rhian Matthews, of Hywel Dda health board, says a range of clinics could be run from the new centre


The project is being developed in partnership with Hywel Dda health board and University of Wales Trinity St David (UWTSD).

The health board's Rhian Matthews said the new centre could be used for outpatient clinics.

She said the aim was to provide "a range of clinics" at the Hwb, where a lifelong learning centre is also planned.

Gwilym Dyfri Jones, provost of UWTSD, said: "We're an anchor institution in the town of Carmarthen and we should be here right at the centre of town.

"We can support the economic, cultural and social regeneration of the town. We'd like to work with the local business community in particular to ensure that the local population have the relevant skills to enable the town to grow during this post-Covid period."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
Indian Student Engineers Propose “Project REBIRTH” to Protect Aircraft from Crashes Using AI, Airbags and Smart Materials
French Debt Downgrade Piles Pressure on Macron’s New Prime Minister
US and UK Near Tech, Nuclear and Whisky Deals Ahead of Trump Trip
One in Three Europeans Now Uses TikTok, According to the Chinese Tech Giant
Could AI Nursing Robots Help Healthcare Staffing Shortages?
NATO Deploys ‘Eastern Sentry’ After Russian Drones Violate Polish Airspace
Anesthesiologist Left Operation Mid-Surgery to Have Sex with Nurse
×