BOURNEMOUTH’S last big department store, House of Fraser, will be closing in two weeks time.

The store announced last month that it would cease trading in Old Christchurch Road and it is thought the new owner of the historic building has other plans for the site.

Customers will be able to shop at the House of Fraser until Sunday, March 13.

House of Fraser’s closure comes as a massive blow to the town centre after Wilko and New Look both shut for good earlier this year.

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Bournemouth Echo: House of Fraser, Old Christchurch Road, BournemouthHouse of Fraser, Old Christchurch Road, Bournemouth

The chair of Bournemouth Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID), Martin Davies, previously told the Bournemouth Echo: “The closure of House of Fraser is another example of a matter that is fundamentally an ongoing contractual one between the landlords and tenants. There have been other examples in the town centre.”

Bournemouth’s House of Fraser store began as Bright’s in 1871 and was known as Dingles for much of its life. Its distinctive towers and iron facades helped it become a grade two listed building.

Its closure will follow that of Beales, which was established in the town in 1881 and went into administration in 2020.

Debenhams, which began in the town as Bobby & Co in 1915, disappeared from the high street last year and was replaced by a new business under the Bobby’s name.