The closed Wilko in Swindon town centre is set to be given a new lease of life just in time for Christmas.

The store on The Parade is one of a handful in the UK that new owners Poundland, which is owned by Pep&Co, will reopen. 

On Saturday, November 25, five former Wilkos in Stevenage, Camberley, Barnstable, Long Eaton and Retford reopened. 

And then, on December 9, two more will be reopening their doors, Chester and the Swindon town centre store. 

Another 15 stores will open in December, including Bedford, Shropshire, Liverpool and Watford. 

A total of 56 former Wilko stores have already reopened under the discount retail brand. 

Austin Cooke, Poundland’s managing director said: ‘We excitedly continue to open and relocate stores at pace so we can bring our best offer, including all-new clothing, chilled and frozen food to customers, existing and new.

‘The monumental effort from our teams continues to amaze me, and it supports jobs and high streets right across Britain.

‘That’s 86 stores in 70 days that we’ll have opened successfully, and no one should underestimate the effort and energy that our teams have put into delivering that achievement – I certainly don’t. It’s phenomenal.’

Over 800 former employees of Wilko have been offered roles at Poundland since the brand went into administration.

But Poundland, which already has a town centre store in Havelock Square, as well as a fairly recently added store at Greenbridge, is hiring for staff at the former Wilko site. 

A job advert on the Poundland Careers website is advertising for potential sales assistants to reply, showing the location of the store as just off Fleming Way. 

It said: "Our Sales Assistants always put our customers first by greeting and assisting them, providing the best in town service to our customers with a smile and helping to maintain excellent store standards. 

"At the core of our stores, you will make our store environment welcoming and deliver our customers the best service and experience." 

While the Swindon store will be rebranded as a Poundland, some Wilko stores are reopening with the Wilko branding after C D S Superstores, which owns The Range, purchased some of them. 

Plymouth, Exeter and Luton will see new Wilko stores open next month.