Bargain retailer moves into Woolies store

A BARGAIN retailer has finalised a deal to move into the former Leith Woolworths.

Poundland has taken a new 10-year lease in half of the outlet, in the Newkirkgate shopping centre.

It had been vacant since the famous brand plunged into administration early last year.

The discount retailer, which has ambitions to have a store on every high street in the UK, will pay a rent of 70,000 a year to landlord Baronsgate Estates when the new shop opens in the autumn.

The remaining half of the store is currently under offer to another potential tenant.

Isla Monteith, of Cushman & Wakefield, which acted for the landlord, said: "Poundland is a good addition to the tenant mix at Newkirkgate which is the principal retail destination in Leith, providing excellent convenience shopping from stores like Boots, Superdrug and Lidl."

Poundland recently announced plans to open 50 new stores in 2010-11, creating around 2000 jobs.