'Tidy Beatties up, or face legal action' council warns owner of Wolverhampton's landmark department store
The owner of Wolverhampton's Beatties business has been told: "Tidy the site up or face legal consequences'.
The ultimatum was issued at a recent meeting between senior council officers and Hiten Raghwani, director of Eden (Beatties) Ltd, which owns the site.
Mr Raghwani had been seeking financial support for his £70 million plans to renovate the building, but was given short shrift when he met with council officers.
Councillor Chris Burden, cabinet member for city development, told the Express & Star: “Senior council officers met with the current owners and, on behalf of all Wulfrunians, expressed in no uncertain terms that the current state of the building is totally unacceptable.
“Eden Beatties have failed to comply with the council’s legally-binding clean up notice, missing deadline after deadline. Further legal action is likely to follow."
Councillor Burden did not rule out financial support, but wanted evidence that any such schemes were both realistic and capable of being carried out swiftly.
“We stressed the urgency of seeing realistic and rapid plans to bring the building back to life with evidence that a credible and comprehensive funding package is capable of being developed," he said.
"We stand ready to support credible plans but are also exploring all available options to bring the building back to life.”
The building, on the corner of Victoria Street and Darlington Street, has been empty for six years, after Beatties owner House of Fraser closed the store, and later moved to smaller premises in the Mander Centre.
In 2024 Wolverhampton Council approved Mr Raghwani's plans to redevelop the building, converting the upper floors converted into 306 apartments, while the ground floor would be retained for commercial use, with cafes, restaurants and shops.
But despite the plans being approved, little progress has been made, and last month Mr Raghwani said he would be seeking public funding to make the scheme viable.
House of Fraser initially sold the building for £3 million to SSYS Beatties Ltd, owned by lawyer Pragnesh Modhwadia, who began work converting the building into flats. But the company was placed in receivership following the collapse of Mr Modhwadia's law firm, and Mr Modhwadia is now awaiting trial on £64 million fraud charges.
Mr Raghwani's Eden Group bought the building from the receiver in February 2024 for £6 million.
Businessman Henry Carver has called for the council to use compulsory purchase powers to take control of the building, and to grant permission for it to be demolished so the site can be redeveloped. He said major developers had told him that the building was uneconomic to renovate.
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