The controversial demolition of the former Debenhams in Norwich for a student housing scheme has been scrapped, following a vigorous campaign by locals and heritage organisations, including C20 Society.

Orford House Developments was granted permission in February 2026 to demolish the 1950s department store and replace it with 377 student rooms, with retail space on the ground floor. A spokesman for the developer said the previous scheme was “No longer viable…the cost of demolishing and rebuilding would be too expensive in this current economic climate, but now we have found a good use for the building.”

Instead, the six-storey building is due to be turned into a children’s adventure centre operated by the Fun Parx group, offering activities like soft play areas, slides, gaming and more. Matt Tofts, founder of the business, told the BBC that the former Debenhams store is well-suited to be turned into an activity park and will appeal to people of all ages: “Being an empty shell, it is easier for us to move into. It allows us to have an amazing design that is different to any other locations.”

Aside from replacing the Debenhams signage, no changes will be made to the exterior of the building. It is anticipated strip-out work could begin in the next two to three weeks and take up to nine months to complete. Fun Parx estimate the new site could provide between 40 to 60 new full and part time jobs.

Curls Department Store

This area of Norwich city centre had been heavily bombed during WWII, Rampant Horse Street being almost completely obliterated by air raids in April 1942.

The new department store building was created to accommodate the Norwich retailers Curls, after their previous premises had been destroyed. Designed by Eric Wilfred Boning Scott of A.F. Scott and Sons, a noted local firm, it was constructed 1954-56 and opened to the public in 1957. It became a branch of Debenhams in 1974, permanently closed in 2021 and has remained empty ever since.

The building is designed in a Neo-Georgian style very typical of its era and intended to be appropriate for the historic setting of Norwich City Centre, as can be seen by the similarly-styled buildings opposite where St Stephen’s Street meets Surrey Street. It is one of number of shops designed by the practice in the centre of Norwich during the 20th Century, including part of the Marks and Spencer opposite Debenhams (by A.F. Scott for Buntings department store).

Covering the steel frame, its facades are of brick with limestone at ground floor and at cornice level, and features a concrete canopy which shelters those looking in the shop windows. These details all remain intact in their original form as do the stone reveals to the first floor windows and the timber window frames. The building’s exteriors survive remarkably well, retaining their essential 1950s form and balanced composition as well as its character-defining features. This store forms part of an important historical phase in Norwich, marking the bombing and post-war reconstruction: part of the palimpsest of this fascinating city and one not to be destroyed lightly.

Student flats plan controversy 

The previous student accommodation scheme for the site was consented in February of this year amid confusing and contentious circumstances. Councillors initially voted to reject the proposal to replace the former Debenhams with new-build flats by five votes to four at the planning committee.

SAVE Britain’s Heritage reported that the meeting was then briefly adjourned for councillors to draft their reasons for rejecting the scheme, against the recommendation of their planning officers. However, when the meeting resumed, two councillors who had opposed the plans had left. With the two councillors absent and the majority lost – the scheme was then waved through following the decision to take a further vote. A subsequent statement from the council confirmed only that the decision making process was “compliant with the council’s constitution and standard decision‑making procedures”

The Twentieth Century Society, Norwich Society, SAVE Britain’s heritage and Historic England all objected to the scheme, as did Norwich City Council’s own conservation officers, finding the building to be both structurally sound and capable of reuse. University of East Anglia also objected to the plans, pointing out the lack of demand for new student housing in central Norwich.

Oli Marshall, C20 Society Campaigns Director, commented:

“The Society is delighted to learn that the wasteful and wholly unnecessary demolition of the former Debenhams in Norwich has been scrapped, following a vigorous campaign by local and heritage organisations. While a vacant building is of little use to anyone and we all want to see new life in the city centre, this handsome slice of 1950s Neo-Georgian architecture was always too good to be bulldozed for unwanted new-build student flats.

We welcome the proposed children’s adventure park and believe this has the potential to be an exciting new chapter for a building that already carries so many memories, as a popular department store over many decades. Times change and our cities are constantly evolving, but imaginative and sustainable reuse of such historic buildings is to be celebrated.”