A much-loved value fashion chain looks set to return to York.

Bonmarché closed its doors in Goodramgate 18 months ago after the company went into administration for a second time in just a few years.

The closure left 44 Gowthorpe in Selby as the nearest Bon Marche to York.

Other Yorkshire locations for Bon Marche include Gole, Pontefract, Leeds, Bradford, Castleford, Wakefield, Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Huddersfield.

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York’s Goodramgate site re-opened as a Yorkshire Trading Company store a year ago. The family-owned business is headquartered in Driffield and was founded in 1954. Today, it has has around 35 stores.

Bonmarché was founded in 1983 by Parkash Singh Chima, and the first Bonmarché store opened in Doncaster in 1985.

York Press: The proposed look

The chain, which has its headquarters in Wakefield,  grew to have more than 300 stores and annual revenues exceeding £200million.

Mr Chima retired and left two sons to run the business, before they sold to the Peacock Group in July 2002.

However, the Peacock Group then sold Bonmarché to a private equity group in 2012, and following poor trading it went into administration in October 2018.

A rescue deal was agreed with Peacocks but in December 2020, at the height of the pandemic, Peacocks went into administration, putting around 2,700 jobs at risk.

Now, under the control of retail tycoon Philip Day, Bonmarché is slowly opening new stores across the UK.

After closing around 30 stores it has in recent months opened or is about to re-open new stores in Oban, Paisley, Bridport, Seaham, Crawley, Thatcham, Spalding and Kirby.

Bonmarché has now submitted a planning application with City of York Council for new signage at Units 17/18, 5 St Mary’s in Coppergate, which at one time contained a Boots.

York Press: Thee existing look

However, other than detailing the signage, the planning application gives no further information on the store, such as staff numbers or when the outlet may open.

The St Mary’s location was most recently occupied by Utopia Womenswear, who has been busy moving around the city centre.

Utopia Womenswear first came to York in 2019, opening in a former supermarket in Spurriergate, before closing the site in May 2023, where Café Nero stands today.

The retailer, which was launched in 2012, then for a time opened a second York store a year ago in Church Street, in the former Game York shop.

Utopia Womenswear then opened at 19 Castlegate, elsewhere in the Coppergate Centre, last June, following the closure of the Spurriergate store.

Now, Utopia Womenswear is opening a store in Coney Street, in the unit that previously contained the StreetLife printing exhibition.

The York Print Centre has previously announced plans to re-open elsewhere in the city.