IT has remained empty for more than a decade following the demise of household name Kwik Save. The former supermarket in Holker Street is a poignant reminder of the fragility of Britain's retail industry but will the empty premises ever be taken over?

The former Kwik Save site is owned by TWR Developments, a company run by Helen and Jonathan Hartley, who inherited the Murrays chain of chemists before selling to Cohens of Bolton.

The empty site is being marketed by Corrie & Co with rent costing £80,000 a year.

A public inquiry was held 25 years ago about plans to build the Kwik Save in Holker Street before the store opened.

During its hey day Kwik Save also had stores in Dalton Road and Flass Lane which in 2006 were among 171 sold by Somerfield to a new Kwik Save Limited company.

But poorly-stocked shelves and falling shopper numbers blighted the stores and within 12 months an investor had to be brought onboard to bailout the group.

A month later, Kwik Save announced it was cutting 500 of 3,800 jobs, including five of the 15 employees at the Holker Street store. Staff at the Dalton Road and Flass Lane stores were not affected.

In May 2007 the three Barrow stores escaped closure when 79 were shut but the remaining 147 continued to suffer from supply issues.

On June 14, 2007, the Holker Street store closed for good. Later that month, with the firm facing administration, staff were not paid and were forced to work without pay for six weeks.

Staff were given hardship loans out of the tills while bosses desperately tried to secure a future for the chain.

In July 2007 the Dalton Road store was closed with the loss of 14 jobs but a stay of execution was granted for the Flass Lane outlet and its nine staff.

The remaining 56 Kwik Save stores were then sold to FreshXpress for £18m and in October 2007 10 were sold to Tesco including the Flass Lane store which became a Tesco Metro.