EXCITING work to transform part of Redditch town centre will begin next month, the Advertiser can reveal.

Ambitious plans to transform Shipley’s bingo hall into a new restaurant and shops were approved last week with new bosses promising to "bring the building to life".

The prominent building block is vacant save for Rilys Indian restaurant on Alcester Street.

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Poundstretcher, also facing Alcester Street, closed more than six years ago, and Shipley’s on the Queen Street frontage plans to close later this month following a downturn in trading.

There were fears that the building would blight the town centre if investment was not forthcoming, but the new owners are promising to spend £2.5m on its refurbishment.

And the team behind the new venture, to be called StoreAway, say they aim to revitalise the building to include new shops and restaurants on the ground floor, plus a new co-working hub for start-ups and freelancers.

“We’ll bring the building to life,” said Richard Lanyon of Lanyon Associates, who has advised on the building’s acquisition and development.

“Our plans will animate the frontage with a host of new independent operators, whilst our co-working space will give Redditch’s budding entrepreneurs a funky, low-cost space from which to launch and manage their businesses.”

The upper floors of the 32,000 sq ft block will be transformed into a new urban self-storage concept called StoreAway, the first of a planned chain.

“StoreAway will be bright, funky and very customer-focused,” said Christian Yates, StoreAway’s managing director.

“Redditch is our first outlet to showcase what is being designed specifically for people in town and city centres.”

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Traditional self-storage, he added, is typically found in out-of-town locations, meaning major users such as universities, local authorities and town centre residents have to travel to store or withdraw items.

Work is set to start on the multi-million pound transformation of the building in April.

The development will include a new restaurant unit on Alcester Street, next to the popular Rilys Indian restaurant, and a number of shop units reserved for independent operators to the side of the building, facing Wetherspoon’s and Domino’s pizza parlour.

The decision to go-ahead with the plans was made at a Redditch Borough Council meeting last week.