Inside empty Helston Budgens supermarket in Cornwall for development

Earlier this month Helston Place Shaping Team revealed more details about how it hopes to use the old supermarket building in the Trengrouse Way car park, which used to be operated by Gateway, then Somerfied, Co-op and finally Budgens.

Now, with less than a week until the public gets to have their say on the project plans, interested parties in the future use of the building have been able to look around – the first time it has been open since Budgens closed its doors in March 2017.

Among those having a look around to weigh up options included Helston Town Council, Helston Youth Cafe, people interested in setting up a bouldering wall and surf skating, Helston Climate Action Group, members of Helston Local Food Hub and from Helston Town Band.

As reported yesterday, Helston Town Band is interested in using part of the lower ground floor for a new base as rehearsal space and possibly even a concert venue upstairs.

You can read more on that here: Helston Town Band eyes up new home in the town as part of exciting plans

Also interested in using some of the downstairs space – which is almost as big as the upper ground floor, better known to most people for being the main shop floor – are Helston Town Council and Cornwall Council.

The town council are interested in storage space, in particular for the groundworks staff, while Cornwall Council is considering the potential for bringing a number of services to the building.

One part of the morning's look around the building was to work out the scope for having a bouldering wall as part of the plans for the upper ground floor, the main public space.

A large space in the centre of the floor would be an area for wheeled sports, exhibitions and events, with a bouldering wall at the far side

While a climbing wall has been ruled out due to the height needed – with walls generally being around 25m tall or higher – a bouldering wall needs only a minimum of 4m to 5m in height, and the length of the building lends itself to an extended wall around the side of the building, where the frozen food cabinets used to be, that people climb across rather than upwards.

This would be for both adults and children, with the only other similar facility to this in Penryn and then Wadebridge.

Another person is keen to bring surf-skating to Helston – similar to skateboarding, but with a board that moves and glides like a surfboard.

David Turnbull, a director of Helston CIC and a member of the Helston Place Shaping Team, said: "When we went up to the college for workshops, overwhelmingly the kids were interested in wheeled sports – roller skating, ice skating, surf skating."

The idea would be to have a large, fenced central area that could be used for this and other activities - a similar sized space to the annual ice skating rink at the Eden Project.

He added that in the day, during school time, the same space could be used for markets, exhibitions and community events.

With plumbing already existing in the cold meats counter area, this would lend itself to a cafe running in the former meat and fish section, next to a small soft play area for children. The idea is to create doors through the wall where the fruit and vegetables were kept, leading on to an outdoor balcony area.

The former cold meat counter and meat and fish area would become a cafe

Where the tills used to be would be a storage area for these activities, while out the back of this floor would be office spaces, and potentially the Helston Youth Cafe relocating there, with a training kitchen linking in to the public cafe.

Meanwhile, Helston Local Food Hub – which brings together local food producers on one website and gathers produce for customers to collect monthly from the Old Cattle Market – is keen to investigate a community larder and kitchen in the building.

People are urged to attend a two-day drop-in consultation this Wednesday (May 25) and Thursday (May 26) between 10am and 8pm, at the Guildhall, to give their views on the ideas for Budgens as well as other projects, including a major proposal to redesign Coinagehall Street and make it one-way.

READ MORE: Dramatic reworking of Helston town centre proposed: now it's over to you

The tills area would be storage for the various sports and bouldering equipment