A BID to re-open the huge, empty Woolworths store in Huddersfield was revealed today.

Council officials have confirmed they have been in touch with a group bidding to find a new use for 200 of the retail giant’s empty shops.

And Kirklees Council would love to see the Huddersfield store on that list.

Former Woolworths boss Sir Geoff Mulcahy is working with a group planning to create a 200-strong chain of “Woolworths-style” stores.

The group, which currently has no name, is headed by former Woolworths managing director Tony Page. He said he had been working with Sir Geoff for a month.

The group is hoping to buy some of the collapsed retailer’s vacant stores.

Sir Geoff was the chief executive of the Kingfisher group when it owned Woolworths from 1982 to 2001.

Last year he failed in a bid to take over about 500 Woolworths stores after the chain went into administration in November.

The last Woolworths stores, including the branch in Victoria Lane, closed on January 6.

Kirklees Council has written to the group in the hope his plan to resurrect part of the retail chain could include Huddersfield.

The group has yet to come up with a name for the chain but is inviting suggestions from the public via Twitter.

Mr Page said that Sir Geoff would “probably be a non-executive chairman.

“Sir Geoff can see the same great opportunities in this as myself and my colleagues do,” he said.

Former UBS banker Gareth Thomas, who will be finance director in the new business, said that it was looking to raise between £5m and £10m from private investors and already had about two-thirds of the money available

The Victoria Lane shop is the largest of the 92 empty retail units in the town centre, according to a new study.

And a £½m bid to brighten up Huddersfield’s growing number of empty shops has hit a brick wall.

The council has been trying to persuade administrators for firms behind many of the empty units to allow them access for art exhibitions and displays.

But they have been unable to convince them to let the project go ahead.

The news came as a report showed one in eight shops in Huddersfield is now standing empty and the number of shoppers in the town centre is falling.