THE future of Altrincham's House of Fraser store is in doubt after the store's owner submitted plans to develop the site into flats, retail and office space.

Lunar Altrincham Sarl, which owns the long leasehold of Stamford Quarter, wants to completely reconfigure the town centre building.

The House of Fraser store, branded Rackhams, is currently occupied by Sports Direct, after the firm’s boss Mike Ashley took over the failed high street chain for £90m, less than a year ago.

Mr Ashley said his plan was to turn the 59-store chain into the “Harrods of the High Street”.

Iain Minto, director of Lunar, said: “Sports Direct has been in this building for nine months and at the moment they’re still trying to work out what to do with the wider business.

“We don’t want the building to sit there forever and a day, we want to invest in the town.

“There are nearly 60 House of Fraser stores.

“I imagine there will be other landlords with House of Fraser, scratching their heads wondering what to do with the space.”

Meanwhile, blueprints submitted to Trafford Council, freehold owners of the shopping centre, reveal three retail units are planned for the lower ground floors – and office space will fill the first floor.

In addition, a new development of 62 one and two-bed flats will be housed on the third floor.

Luna bosses say the scheme would be the ‘final piece’ of its regeneration of Stamford Quarter, which includes American gym Orangetheory Fitness, Danish retailer Sostrene Grene and Flannels.

“We believe that redeveloping this important area of the centre for a high-quality, mixed-use scheme will strike the right balance in Altrincham which, through continuing investment and strategic direction, has gone from strength to strength in recent years,” added Mr Minto.

A spokesman for Trafford Council said the council were monitoring the situation with House of Fraser and looking at alternative uses of the site.

Meanwhile, Frankie and Benny’s has put its Altrincham restaurant up for sale.

The Italian-American restaurant chain will continue trading as normal from the Denmark Street site until a deal is finalised.

In the past few weeks, a number of Frankie and Benny’s restaurants in the Norh West have shut down, with the Leigh and Blackburn branches both closing.

Owners The Restaurant Group confirmed that there are currently no plans to close their other Trafford restaurant, inside The Trafford Centre.

The past few years have proved tough for Frankie and Benny’s, as profits slumped.

In 2016 owners, The Restaurant Group announced it would be shutting 33 under-performing sites as part of a strategic review.

The company suffered a £22.5 million loss in the first half of that year, which was blamed on poor management and an unnecessary rise in menu prices.