Moretons Investments owned the empty House of Fraser by 25 June, Companies House shows. It is the Brighton firm's third Guildford High Street buy since 2024.
The empty House of Fraser building on Guildford High Street has a new owner. It is Moretons Investments, a property company based in Brighton.
The store closed in September 2023 and has stood empty for three years. Moretons now lists it on its own website as “1 shop, purchased 2026” (Moretons Investments). The company has not published any plans for it.
What the public record shows
The Companies House register dates the deal more precisely than the announcement did. On 25 June 2026, Moretons Investments Ltd (company 08329983) registered two charges in favour of Shawbrook Bank over the building (Companies House, charge 0139).
The charge describes the property as:
- the freehold of 60A-64 North Street and 105-113 (odd) High Street, Guildford, GU1 4AH
- “the whole of the land registered at HM Land Registry with title number SY41298”
The second charge covers the same land and adds a negative pledge, which stops the owner granting other lenders security over it without the bank’s consent (Companies House, charge 0138). A company can only charge land it owns or is buying, so the building was in Moretons’ hands by the last week of June.
The price has not been published by either side. The selling agent’s page still shows the property as “Available” (Green & Partners).
Not Moretons’ only Guildford High Street building
The same register shows Moretons has been buying at the top of the town for two years. Its charges over Guildford property are (Companies House, all charges):
| Property | Charge created | Lender |
|---|---|---|
| 72-74 High Street | 14 June 2024 | Santander UK |
| 168 High Street and offices 1-4 Highpoint, 9 Sydenham Road | 25 March 2026 | Hazeldine Capital |
| Former House of Fraser, 105-113 High Street and 60A-64 North Street | 25 June 2026 | Shawbrook Bank |
Moretons’ portfolio page lists 168 High Street and Highpoint as “1 retail and 1 office block, purchased 2026” (Moretons Investments). The company describes itself as an independent property investment and development company that buys, develops and manages commercial and residential property across the South East (Moretons Investments). Most of its listed portfolio is in Brighton and Worthing.
What any new owner has to work with
The building is large and heavily protected. The sale particulars describe it as:
- sales floors over a basement, ground floor and five upper floors
- a seven-storey atrium on the North Street side, added under planning reference 95/P/01540
- a large loading area on the lower ground floor
- a Grade II listed High Street facade
On the fifth floor is the roof garden that Geoffrey Jellicoe designed for Harveys in 1956-7. Historic England registered it as a Grade II park and garden on 30 August 2000 (Historic England, list entry 1001474). Jellicoe wrote that it was “primarily a sky garden”, with water laid out to reflect the clouds.
The shop’s history runs back further than the store most people remember. Furniture retailer Williamson’s moved into part of the site in 1847. Harveys of Guildford took over in 1950 and had expanded across the whole block by 1960, according to the agent. House of Fraser bought Harveys in the 1970s, and the store traded as Army & Navy for some years before taking the House of Fraser name.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes on the street yet. The building stays shut, and no planning application has been published by the new owner.
- Any conversion will be public. Changing a listed building, or the registered roof garden, needs consent from the council, and every application appears on the Guildford planning register with a period for comments.
- Watch the listed parts. Work to the High Street facade or the Jellicoe garden would need listed building consent as well as planning permission, so there should be two sets of documents to read.
Moretons Investments has not said publicly what it plans for the building. We will report any application when it is filed.
Have your say