Retail interest in former TJ Hughes store in Dumfries

A "retail interest" has been confirmed in a prominent Dumfries town centre store which has been empty for months.

TJ Hughes quit its High Street site in the summer after the company went into administration.

Dumfries and Galloway MP Russell Brown described it as a "deep, deep loss" when it left the property vacant.

Now the council has said it understands a retailer is interested in the old store but that legal issues needed to be sorted out before any announcement.

Administrators were called in at TJ Hughes earlier this year with the loss of hundreds of jobs across the UK.

It resulted in the closure of the Dumfries branch which had opened in a former Littlewoods store in 2006, employing more than 40 staff.

The head of Dumfries Retailers Association, Rab Smith, said at the time that the loss of the store would leave a "big gap" in the town.

However, it now appears there could be fresh interest in reopening the site.