VARIETY retailer B&M Bargains is to move into the Accrington store soon to be vacated by Homebase.

A number of jobs will be created when the bargain chain opens up in Hyndburn Road, close to Asda, in the summer.

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A spokesman said: “We are delighted to announce that B&M Retail will be opening a second store in Accrington, occupying the former Homebase.

“A comprehensive internal and external refurbishment programme will be completed once the existing unit is empty and the new B&M store is expected to be open by the summer.”

Home improvement seller Homebase announced it will close the shutters on its Accrington store on Saturday, February 21.

The move comes just days after Marks & Spencer said it was quitting the town’s high street for Rawtenstall after 53 years.

B&M’s existing store, opposite the Arndale Centre in Union Street, will remain open but will be made smaller as part of the Pennine Reach Scheme, which will see a £6.4m bus station built in Crawshaw Street.

Cllr Clare Cleary, chairman of Accrington Town Team, said: “The store is going to be altered because of the new bus station. It’s been on the cards for a bit and it’s excellent news. We don’t want places to be empty for long.

“Part of the store in Union Street will be demolished, but there will still be a presence. And with a bigger premises [in Hyndburn Road], B&M can sell different stuff, so it’s not a bad thing. We have not had anything confirming it in writing, but it’s good news because we won’t now have an empty unit.”

Council opposition leader, Cllr Peter Britcliffe, said: “If B&M is going to remain in both places that’s excellent news, because the most important thing is that Accrington does not become empty.”

From its first store in Blackpool, B&M Bargains has grown to more than 400 stores in the UK, employing more than 19,000 staff.

There had been unfoun-ded rumours home, leisure, and garden store The Range would be taking over the Hyndburn Road store.

Last June, Homebase’s Burnley store, which employed 45 retail staff, was transferred to The Range.

Interviews will be offered to Homebase’s staff from Accrington, and job openings will be posted online.

A spokesman added: “At B&M, we always believe that our colleagues make the store what it is and we will be looking to recruit in the very near future.”

Council leader Miles Parkinson could not be reached for comment.