Sainsbury's bosses told to sort out shabby Wolverhampton shop

The old shop at St George's Parade closed in July 2014 when the supermarket giant moved to its £60 million base in Raglan Street and has been empty ever since.

Now council leader Councillor Roger Lawrence is urging the company to hold talks with the authority in a bid to bring the 'shabby' site back into use.

Councillor Lawrence, said: "I still want to meet with senior managers at Sainsbury's to talk about what they are doing about it because it is looking really shabby.

"There has been interest but there is not much we can do other than try to persuade them that wouldn't it be sensible to do a deal now and get somebody in there. That would help us.

"I've asked for a meeting to talk about where we are because we know that there has been interest, but we suspect that that doesn't meet their market valuation, that doesn't meet their expectation in the current market.

"We are on the case, it is a private company and we are happy to talk to them to try to persuade them not to leave the site deteriorating which is happening at the moment."

The council's cabinet member for city assets, Councillor Peter Bilson, has already vowed to work with supermarket bosses to move new schemes forward.

Councillor Bilson said the council was keen to see the site re-used as part of long-term regeneration schemes for the city, adding he believed it would suit a range of different uses, with new offices or retail use both suggested.

The property was put on the market in 2013, well in advance of the move, but despite interest it still has not been snapped up.

In a statement Sainsbury's said today: "We're continuing to market the site and are in discussions with a number of interested parties."

Elsewhere, the authority is ploughing ahead with the regeneration of the Southside area of the city.

The area will be marketed to developers this year and has already seen the demolition of derelict buildings on Cleveland Street, converting the land to provide additional car parking in the city centre in the interim.

The former Netto is also being demolished under the multi-million pound regeneration of the area.

The new Raglan Street supermarket opened its doors in July 2014 creating a total of 340 jobs, with 192 workers moving from its now-closed store in St George's Parade.

The 72,000 sq ft shop has an in-store cafe, recycling centre, gym and petrol station.

The long-awaited store opened after a 14-year wait. After a 10-year battle with Tesco for the land, construction started in October 2013.

A row saw the supermarket giants embroiled in a legal battle over who could build a store in Raglan Street.

Both firms owned part of Raglan Street, but Tesco eventually settled on the former Royal Hospital site in All Saints.

The 10-acre Royal site had been lined up for a £65 million superstore redevelopment until the crisis-hit stores group pulled the plug on a string of future developments early last year.

Meanwhile, Tesco's Mander Centre shop will close on February 27.

The Metro outlet is closing as the centre undergoes a £25m overhaul.