New Selfridges owners plan hotel and flats for Oxford Street store

Selfridges is set to build a hotel and apartments on the site on Oxford Street according to plans put forward by the new owners of the department store.

Selfridges, which has UK offices in London, Manchester and Birmingham, was sold on Christmas Eve to Thailand-based Central Group for 4 billion pounds and Signa Holding was sold in a joint venture by the billionaire Weston family.

The redevelopment of the flagship store the retailer has inhabited for over a century will include an improved food hall.

The concept of a Selfridges hotel isn't new, since part of the Oxford Street building lies empty. It's an old hotel that closed down in 2008, and it's only been used for one transitional reason, such as for a skate park.

Signa chief Dieter Berninghaus said that the hotel and an apartment in Selfridges "flagship store would provide" substantial added value."

Selfridges sales come at a difficult time for UK department stores and the retail sector, which has been plagued by coronaviruses since the beginning of the pandemic and has forced a string of high street stores including Debenhams to close.