The search is on for new tenants to occupy a former high street Debenhams after it remained vacant for three years.

The department store in Chatham High Street closed in January 2020 and was bought by Medway Council last June for £2.2 million using a grant from the government's Future High Streets Fund.

The council had been eyeing up the empty store as a target for a multi-million pound investment since 2021, having identified the landmark building as one of the areas it wanted to regenerate using money from the £9.5m fund.

The leasehold for the 130,000 sq ft site is now being sold through estate agents Lambert Smith Hampton and Sibley Pares and is marketed for uses such as leisure, community, culture and education, with housing earmarked on the upper floors.

The former retail store is available for redevelopment or let, and is divisible both vertically and horizontally with the ground floor potentially being split with minimum unit sizes of 5,000 sq ft.

Any use of the ground floor would need to increase footfall to the high street, and although the council is giving organisations the opportunity to submit proposals it is still considering redeveloping the building itself.

Chatham's Debenhams was one of 21 nationwide stores to be axed by the retailer after entering administration in April 2019, as part of cost-cutting measures.

The chain later entered administration again in April 2020 and closed all its stores in 2021.

The council's Future High Street Fund grant is also planned to be put towards reconfiguring the first floor of the Pentagon Shopping Centre for community use, delivering a creative workspace at the Brook Theatre, creating an innovation hub for business start-ups and refurbishing the vacant St John's Church.

The grant, which was awarded in January 2021, will also help transform The Paddock, the space between Chatham Waterfront Bus Station and The Pentagon Shopping Centre, into a "vibrant public space".