TWO long-established Leigh businesses are set to be knocked down and replaced with flats.

H. Skeels in London Road, which has been open for almost 70 years, is "under offer", while St Ann’s builders Merchants Ltd, also on the London Road has now been boarded up.

Historian Arthur Woodward reminisced about the businesses. He said: “H.Skeels were the first ones to make headlight in the area when they opened in 1946. They used to be a glass merchant, but people don’t buy glass anymore so they eventually became a hardware store.

“I was one of the first people to get an account with St Ann’s, which used to be Sharps.

“If you get rid of the retail business, it will just be flats. It will totally spoil the area because there are already so many flats nearby.”

“It will be a silly thing to do if they get rid of the shop.”

In 2014 a planning application was submitted to Southend council to demolish the old H. Skeels hardware shop and the flats above it.

The plan was to replace it with a modern building of two shops and eight flats, but planning application was rejected and Leigh Town Council also strongly opposed.

Leigh town councillor Carole Mulroney said: “Shops like these are from another era.

"You can get anything from them and it is a wonderful, but unfortunately these kind of shops aren’t used as much as they once were.

“The loss of a long established individual property is always a great shame. From a historian’s point of view, it’s always disappointing to lose something that has been there so long and is well established.”

In 2013 conditional planning permission was approved for The St Ann’s Builders Merchants Ltd building to be demolished and replaced with a three storey building containing a shop and nine residential flats.

A condition of St Ann’s planning application was that building work started within three years, that is due to end at the end of this year.

Kemsley would not reveal who had made an offer on H. Skeels.