After almost three years, a few failed attempts and one false alarm Helston's former Co-op and Budgens building has finally been sold.

Property agent Barney Peters, with Scott Burridge Commercial, confirmed to the Packet that a sale was agreed just over a week ago.

He told the Packet: "I can confirm it's sold and we'll watch this space. Updates will occur when they're available."

There had been a suggestion at the end of December that it might have been sold when a notice was placed on a post outside the building in the Trengrouse Way car park, stating: “This site has been acquired by Cornish Deals.com Ltd.”

It claimed the site would be opening in autumn 2020, following a period of refurbishment, with the Cornish Deals website appearing to confirm this by announcing: "Helston site opening 2020!” - although this was subsequently removed.

However, after returning from Christmas leave a spokesperson for Truro-based estate agent SBC Property clarified that a sale had not been made at that time and, crucially, that Cornish Deals had not been in contact.

Earlier that month the building had failed to sell at auction.

It has been empty since March 2017, when budget supermarket Budgens closed after just eight months of trading. Before that it was operated as a Co-op.

Since then it has fallen into an increasing state of disrepair. It had previously been due for auction back in May, when it had a guide price of £400,000, but was withdrawn at the eleventh hour to allow talks between SBC Property and a possible buyer, which subsequently fell through.

The building has a total gross area of 1,648sqm (17,748 sqft) and still has 121 years of a 155-year leasehold remaining, with what has been described as a “peppercorn rent”.