UPHAM Road residents can finally bid farewell to a long-standing eyesore.

Upham Road Stores, which has been in a derelict state for months, is being bulldozed.

But, while some residents are glad to see the back of it, others are concerned that the area is now left with no shop close by.

After a five-month wait to decide the fate of the 1960s building Swindon Council decided to take drastic action and knock it down.

In November last year more than 30 residents attended a public meeting organised by Coun Peter Mallinson (Lab, Walcot) to gauge opinion about the building's future.

There was a 50-50 split between those who voted to see it demolished and those who wanted it to be refurbished.

But the council decided the best thing for the shop, which had been boarded up after vandals smashed all of the windows, was to knock it down.

And this decision has pleased Jim Toolen. The 57-year-old engineer lives directly opposite the shop and thinks that taxpayers' money was wasted while the council decided what they were going to do.

"I am pleased we are finally seeing action," he said.

"I think the council has made the best decision by knocking the shop down and now hopefully we will see a house go up in the space where it was."

Mr Toolen has lived opposite the shop for the last 35 years.

"When I first moved here the shop was used by a lot of people and you could get all sorts of things there," he said.

"But over the years it became clear that it wasn't making a profit. The last proprietor let the shop go downhill and, even before it closed down, it started to look quite bad.

"It has been boarded up for months and graffiti was sprayed on the outside, it's just looked a complete mess."

But another resident, Mike Townsend, 66, is worried that elderly residents will be not be able to buy essentials nearby now the council has confirmed the shop will not be refurbished.

The retired former railway worker moved to the area in 1955, soon after the estate was built.

He said: "There are people who rely on a local shop to get bits and pieces so I think it's bit of a shame there will no longer be a shop on the estate.

"I know there are lots of shops up at Old Town. But a lot of elderly residents who don't drive cannot manage that hill.

"I know the shop was a mess and the kids used to hang around outside but I think it could have been turned into a new shop or a police point, something for the community."

A new house will now be built on the site.