Plans to demolish Leeds’ House of Fraser store and replace it with student flats have been backed by local councillors.

The retailer is set to move out of the Briggate premises, which was once the site of the city’s first ever Woolworths store.

Subject to several conditions, developers will now build a 10-storey block for 369 university students in its place, though space for shops on the ground and basement floors will be included.

At a planning meeting on Thursday, city councillors said they’d be pleased to see the back of the “ugly” House of Fraser building, which was put up in the late 1950s.

Liberal Democrat councillor Colin Campbell said: “I think (the proposal) is actually quite a nice design. It works and it will improve Briggate.”