WORK has begun on the renovation of Beales in the Dolphin Shopping Centre.

As reported, plans have been forged to revive the Beales just months after the chain seemed to disappear for good.

Panther Securities – which owned many of the Beales store sites – is understood to have taken over the lease of the Dolphin Centre store.

And the closure of the three-storey shop in the shopping centre left a large gap.

However, work started on Monday to revive the store which will operate under the Beales name.

The shop has currently been stripped with shelves pulled out and units lying on the floor.

Remnants of the old Beales are scattered over the three storeys, with brands still on floors where they were once busy.

The café lies empty with the menu still on the wall behind the counter.

Cordoned off on the ground floor is stock belonging to Dorothy Perkins.

The work is set to last until the end of July when the owners will look to bring in brands and resurrect the store.

After learning that the Poole branch could survive, BCP Council leader welcomed the news.

Cllr Vikki Slade said: “I know that when things were on a downward slope, the Poole branch was always one of the most profitable and I was always fairly confident that we would be able to restore something similar.

“If you could extract each bit of the jigsaw, I was hopeful we might get there.

“I also know a number of organisations and individuals who are interested in the Bournemouth site, so I think it’s unlikely that’s going to sit as an ugly reminder for very long.”

Beales was founded in Bournemouth in 1861 by John Elmes Beale and became an institution.

The business opened a Poole shop in the early days of the Dolphin Centre, which opened as the Arndale in 1969.