It's looking rosy again at the Big W

The Big W store on Milton Link has remained empty since the chain went into administration more than a year ago.

Now the building's owner, Aegon Asset Management, which used to lease the building to Big W, is launching a bid to rejuvenate the site and attract new tenants, and is asking local residents what they would like to see there.

The firm has notified the city council that it wants to extend the possible uses of the site to include food retail, in the hope this will make it easier to attract new businesses. The site already has permission for use as a garden centre and non-food retail.

A spokesman for Aegon said: "We're looking to do something for the site so we want to consult local residents and hear views on how best we can regenerate it."

The firm is to hold two consultation meetings with the public to hear their views on the site's future. The first will be at Hayes Business Centre in Hay Avenue, from 4pm-8pm on 26 February, the second at the Best Western Kings Manor Hotel in Milton Road East from 10am-6pm on 27 February.

Secretary of Craigmillar Community Council, Terry Tweed, said the community council was due to meet with Aegon Asset Management's agents, Savills, on Monday. He said: "We'd definitely welcome it being in use again. It's just a target for vandalism at the moment."

But Portobello/Craigmillar Councillor Stephen Hawkins has doubts about the prospect of a supermarket moving in.

He said: "It has been a retail area in the past, it's fairly large retail outlet and to see it being brought back into retail would be good.

"But we're almost saturated with supermarkets – we have Asda just up the road, we have a huge Tesco down in Musselburgh. But there may be a niche market, such as Lidl or one of the other discounters who could see themselves extending into that area."

Many of the other Woolworths stores in the Lothians have now been taken over, the majority by bargain stores. The most recent to be re-occupied is in St John's Road, Corstorphine, where The Bed Shed opened last month.