BASINGSTOKE bid a fond farewell to Debenhams on Saturday as the department store closed its doors for the last time.

The chain has been a flagship store in the town’s shopping centre since 2002, but the huge three-story unit now lays empty inside Festival Place.

So what will replace Debenhams?

Across the UK, new exciting developments have been announced to take over former Debenhams stores.

The old Debenhams site in Bournemouth is set to be replaced with Bobbies, where locals will be able to enjoy a new microbrewery, market style pods, an art gallery and a spa.

Basingstoke Gazette:

Plans for the Basingstoke unit are currently unknown with Festival Place declining to comment when approached by the Gazette.

But Neil Churchill, centre director of Festival Place, told Hampshire Live that the shopping centre was looking at "viable alternatives" for the space and that there is more to town than the flagship store. 

Whilst we may not know for certain what will replace the former Debenhams, readers have been sharing their wishes for the town- and some of the ideas are amazing.

In fact 635 suggestions were made by readers on our Facebook pag,e with many hoping the new site will revive the town centre after a difficult year for retailers.

Emma Rose had a detailed plan for splitting up the floors suggesting: “Bottom floor a few restaurants that we've never had in Basingstoke before including a decent Caribbean restaurant. Middle floor some decent upmarket bars. And the top floor a couple of nightclubs covering all age groups, and all types of music. Basingstoke nightlife definitely needs it!”

Ċlairẹ Dỏwney supported Emma on the food front suggesting more diverse independent food options for the town. Her comment read: “Seriously, we need more DECENT and diverse independent restaurants selling a variety of food i.e. a decent seafood place, Lebanese, Persian and Caribbean food places, somewhere that does home cooked, decent Italian food, a good Tapas place... stuff like that.”

Many readers wanted the space to be converted into a market style shopping experience, Cliff Hortin said: “I would like to see something like Oxford‘s covered market lots of little independent traders in different size units.”

Neil Girle wanted to see a farmer’s market and art craft stalls whilst Sandra Tasker liked the idea of the market stalls selling clothes and antiques.

Other suggestions included a huge climbing centre, an indoor dog park complete with pet shop, vets and hydra therapy or a huge arcade and soft play centre.

Some reminisced about previous loved and lost stores like Woolworths, British Home Stores and of course many just wanted to see Debenhams re-open.

What would you like to see replace Debenhams, let us know below?