MORE businesses have left St Helens' Hardshaw Centre as the shopping complex enters its final weeks in operation.
St Helens Council is planning to bring new homes, offices, retail space, a market hall and hotel into the town centre and, as part of the regeneration process, the Hardshaw Centre will be demolished.
Many traders have already moved across to Church Square shopping centre.
These include ShoeZone, Bonmarche, and TJ Hughes, while others like the Country Kitchen and Simply Fashion left the town for good.
Now Waterfields bakery and Cafe Zinho have moved out.
The cafe still has a venue in the central area of Church Square Shopping Centre, where seating has been expanded to cope with a potential increase in demand.
Waterfields revealed plans to move to St Helens retail park last year.
It leaves the likes of Heron Foods, One Below, Womble Inn and Alpha News still trading from the centre.
Womble Inn has a new store on Church Street being prepared, while the newsagents is also expected to relocate to a central position on the town centre's high street.
It is understood Heron, which is expected to relocate to the former Top Shop store at Church Square, is believed to want to remain in its current place for as long as possible ahead of the temporary bus station being installed at Chalon Way.
With the regeneration plans finally set to start this year, the council has confirmed that contractors will begin stripping out the Hardshaw building "in summer", followed by its demolition in the autumn.
No closing date has been confirmed from those in charge, but the remaining workers are believed to have been told that the centre will be closed by Friday, May 31.
Last month, a spokesperson for the St Helens regeneration project said: "Demolition is a two-stage process.
"It begins in summer with a strip out process of the existing site and is followed in the Autumn with a demolition of the actual structure.
"St Helens Borough Council and its appointed management agents remain committed to protecting valued staff members of the Hardshaw Centre and are exploring opportunities to transfer staff members to the neighbouring Church Square Shopping Centre, where possible."
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