Debenhams Swindon: YouTube video shows inside closed store

The fallen retail giant announced that the department store would not be reopening in December 2020 after it was closed during the pandemic - and it has sat empty ever since. 

The video, posted onto the Kirbz Vids YouTube Channel dedicated to urban exploring, depicts a stark contrast in fortunes for the once busy shopping destination in The Parade. 

Inside Swindon's abandoned Debenhams (Image: Kirbz Vids)

Inside Swindon's abandoned Debenhams (Image: Kirbz Vids)

Inside Swindon's abandoned Debenhams (Image: Kirbz Vids)

A joint planning application from the site's current owners Meadow Partners and inner city self-storage operator StoreAway was submitted in July last year, aiming to turn the 200,000sq ft space into 900 storage lockers. 

The urban explorer behind the channel, who maintains he has not done anything illegal by entering the building, explained that he wanted to capture the inside of the store one last time before construction work started.

It is slated to begin in the spring. 

In a blurb posted with the video, he said: "My final visit of Debenhams in Swindon before this place becomes a self-storage site.

"Debenhams closed down during lockdown 2020 and has sat empty ever since the building used to also be Bon Marche, it is a brutalist-style building built in the 60s."

Inside Swindon's abandoned Debenhams (Image: Kirbz Vids)

Inside Swindon's abandoned Debenhams (Image: Kirbz Vids)

Inside Swindon's abandoned Debenhams (Image: Kirbz Vids)

In the video, viewers can see rows and rows of empty shelving and storage units, forgotten mannequins, extensive amounts of retail detritus like hangers and stickers and till roll among other things. 

All of it is strangely punctuated by the remaining presence of high-end fashion branding with names like Clarins, Lancome, Givenchy, Chanel, Versace and Dior.

The lights, and even the escalators, still appear to be in full working order. There are dozens of chairs in the restaurant and Costa Coffee, and there are piles of teapots and mugs. 

A Wiltshire Police spokesperson previously commenting on urban exploring said: "While it is not a criminal offence to trespass, it is clear from this website that these people are going into structures that are either derelict or are going to be demolished.

"Our advice to these people would be to stay out of these structures because if they injure themselves it could be hours or even days before help arrives. If something does happen it also puts the lives of those people in the emergency services at risk when they have to rescue these people as well."

Inside Swindon's abandoned Debenhams (Image: Kirbz Vids)

Inside Swindon's abandoned Debenhams (Image: Kirbz Vids)

Inside Swindon's abandoned Debenhams (Image: Kirbz Vids)