Planning permission has been granted for J Holland and Sons to transform a long-vacant former Boots store into Trinity Bingo, bringing a prominent Weymouth town centre property back into use and ending four years of a prominent empty building on the high street.

Operator J Holland and Sons has received approval to transform a former Boots store on Weymouth’s high street into Trinity Bingo, breathing life back into a vacant retail unit.

The development will see the operator occupy a prominent town centre property that has stood empty since mid-2022. 

Approval also covers a replacement shopfront and new signage. The proposed frontage will feature new blue and white signage above a refurbished shopfront designed to complement the surrounding conservation area. The scheme also includes the removal of an internal partition wall between Nos. 81 and 82 St Mary Street.

According to planning documents submitted on behalf of the building’s owner, the project is expected to enhance the appearance of the town centre while bringing an empty commercial unit back into active use. The plans are also expected to create new employment opportunities, although the number of jobs has not been disclosed.

For the amusements sector, the approval demonstrates that there are still councils that opt for progress over prohibition, especially when operators continue to go above and beyond to prove they are sustainable and socially responsible businesses. However, whether this continues once proposed Gambling Impact Assessments become law remains to be seen. The measures would shift the burden onto applicants to justify new premises in designated areas, marking a significant move away from the Gambling Act’s long-standing “aim to permit” principle – potentially making future approvals even harder to secure.

And what that will do for a high street like Mary Street in Weymouth, which has already been without one of its leading sites for over four years, is decimating.