Kingston town retail space to become games arcade

The building will be turned into an arcade, with flats on the upper floors

The future of a prominent retail space in the town centre of Kingston, south London, has been confirmed by the local council.

The former Wilko store in the four-storey building on the junction of Clarence Street and Old London Road shut in August 2023 when the high street chain went bust.

Richmond Council has now approved plans to turn the empty space in the basement and ground floor of the building into a games arcade.

The leisure business will be operated by entertainment company FunBox Ltd and will have activities including skittles, pool, bowling, snooker, golf, darts, shuffleboard, cricket and virtual reality games.

'Party bar' next door

The venue will also serve food and alcohol from 12:00 to midnight on Sundays to Thursdays, and until 01:00 on Fridays and Saturdays.

The closure of Wilko put on hold plans, approved by the council in 2022, to convert the building's upper floors into housing.

It is now set to go ahead, with a separate housing scheme to extend the building by three storeys to provide 56 new flats once completed, including four affordable homes.

Plans for the neighbouring building have also been submitted, in an attempt to attract late-night revellers.

The current PRZYM nightclub would be divided into a "party bar" on the ground floor and a nightclub on the upper two storeys.

The council will decide on those plans in due course.