Watch: Inside Sheffield's old Cole Brothers store as developer gives update on plans for famous building

This video shows inside Sheffield’s old Cole Brothers department store building ahead of its impending transformation.

The developers have given an update on their plans for the listed building at Barker’s Pool, which has stood empty since John Lewis closed its Sheffield branch in 2021.

The ground floor will be the first part of the building brought back to life, according to Urban Splash, which recently signed a 250-year-lease with Sheffield City Council to reopen the premises as an entertainment, leisure and retail venue.

Food and drink outlets and shops are planned on the ground floor, with workspace or potentially public uses for the upper floors, according to Mark Latham, the developer’s director of regeneration.

He said: “We’ve got all sorts of exciting plans that we want to share with the people of Sheffield in the near future about ideas for bringing the whole building back to life.

“(We will be) starting on the ground floor at street level, the Barker’s Pool frontage in Cambridge Street, bringing food and drink and shops back into this amazing big space.

“Then we’ll continue with further plans up the building with ideas for possibly workspace or possibly public uses, that’s all to be decided.

“We want to hear from the public about their vision and their hopes for this building because we know that it means so much to Sheffielders and I go around the country and people know about Cole Brothers. It’s a very special place, we know that. We’re lucky to be working with you to bring it back to life.”

When the lease agreement was announced in March, Urban Splash - the company responsible for regenerating the city’s Park Hill flats - said it would consult the people of Sheffield on the building’s future.

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No financial figures or conditions in the lease agreed between the developer and the council have been provided.

Urban Splash has previously said that if everything goes to plan work would start on the lower floors of the Cole Brothers building towards the end of 2025 and last until the end of 2027.

Council leader Tom Hunt said: “Urban Splash have got some really exciting plans for this building, and it’s going to sit alongside other exciting projects in the city centre - the Heart of the City scheme, Castlegate, West Bar and Fargate.”

He added: “We’re creating a city centre that will be a great place for people to come, live, work, enjoy and have a fantastic time here in the heart of our city.”