EMI building is back up for sale

Previously commanding an asking price of £8.5 million, the building on Penny Lane, off Drakes Way, now carries a price tag of offers over £7 million.

Makro Self Service Wholesalers was granted planning permission to transform the 123,000 sq ft building into a discount wholesale store last September.

The move was expected to create 244 new jobs.

But the building, called the Galacticus, is back on the market because King Sturge, the property agent dealing with the sale, has ruled Makro out.

Jeremy Sutton, partner at King Sturge, based in Milton Road, said: "The building was under offer. But in February we realised the deal with Makro was not going through."

The building, which includes offices, can be used for industrial, warehouse or distribution.

It could also be used for retail.

Makro, which has cash and carry stores at Bristol and Reading, would have demolished part of the distinctive white building, which has compact disc-style windows.

Besides creating jobs, bus shelters nearby would have been improved as part of the deal.

EMI closed the former CD pressing plant in 2002, making 192 people redundant.

The factory produced more than 500 million CDs from the likes of Mariah Carey, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Queen, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Pink Floyd and The Beatles.

But in 2001 the EMI group was hit by a stagnant record market and demoted from the FTSE index of the top 100 companies.

Rachel Evans, spokeswoman for Makro, said: "We were looking into the Swindon site. But nothing was finalised."

Last week Swindon was hit by a swathe of redundancies at two prominent companies in the town.

The drug manufacturing company Cardinal Health, based at Blagrove Industrial Estate, announced up to 70 job cuts on Thursday.

Earlier in the week, WH Smith announced that 270 jobs are to go at its Swindon and London operations, which means that 1,380 jobs have gone in Swindon in the last six months.

Victoria Tagg