Oswaldtwistle Mills plots Ribble Valley expansion

Oswaldtwistle Mills has submitted an application for a a £1.5m, 1,380 sq m Love Furniture Stores in the Ribble Valley.

The new store will see furniture and contemporary homewares at Barrow Brook Business Park to the south of Clitheroe.

Permission is being sought from Ribble Valley Borough Council for a purpose-built glass fronted store that will be occupied by Oswaldtwistle Mills under the new trading name Love Furniture Stores and will include a coffee shop/tearoom along with 45 adjacent car parking spaces.

It will sit alongside the existing commercial offer at Barrow Brook, which includes a Starbucks, Subway, McDonald’s, KFC, Co-Operative Food Store and Texaco Petrol Station.

The proposal was conceived following Oswaldtwistle Mills’ successful opening of a similar store within The Mill Outlet & Garden Centre, Batley in 2016.

Similar to its existing operations, the new retail unit at Barrow Brook will accommodate a diverse range of furniture & homewares, with a focus on British Made and local suppliers from the Lancashire Region, and a white-glove local delivery service.

Love Furniture Stores will complement the existing retail offer within Clitheroe town centre and Whalley village, while boosting consumer choice and reducing the need for residents to travel to out-of-town shopping destinations.

A number of employment opportunities will be created both through the construction period and once open, at a range of levels and seniority.

The application is a joint initiative between Red Rose Holdings of Darwen, who will be developing and overseeing the build project, and Boyd Hargreaves, managing director of Oswaldtwistle Mills, who will manage the ongoing retail operation. Subject to planning approval, the exciting new store would be up and running for the early part of 2019.