102-104 Fore Street, Exeter, Devon, EX4 3JB

The property comprises a range of buildings which front Fore Street to the front and Smythen Street to the rear. The existing accommodation comprises full ground and first floors, plus smaller floor plates on basement, second and third floors plus 4th floor/attic area. The property has been occupied for many years as a single retail unit, comprising sales accommodation on ground, first and second floors plus ancillary storage and offices on the remaining floors.

The property offers potential for redevelopment or alternative uses, subject to the necessary planning consents, and may suit investors, owner occupiers or developers seeking a value-add opportunity.

City centre development opportunity with consented scheme

Approx: 18,696 sq ft (1,737 sq m)

Sold with vacant possession

Exeter is the county town and the major regional shopping centre for the county of Devon. It has a population of approximately 130,000 with a catchment in the order of 300,000.

Exeter is well served by transport communications with the M5 motorway running to the east of the city and dual carriageway access to Plymouth and Cornwall beyond. It also benefits from an intercity railway station and international airport. It also provides significant employment areas and a city centre represented by the majority of the national retailers and banks.

The property is situated towards the upper end of Fore Street, an extension of Exeter's High Street. Fore Street is a vibrant city centre position with independent boutique and niche retailers as well as cafés and restaurants.

The property comprises a range of buildings which front Fore Street to the front and Smythen Street to the rear. The existing accommodation comprises full ground and first floors, plus smaller floor plates on basement, second and third floors plus 4th floor/attic area. The property has been occupied for many years as a single retail unit, comprising sales accommodation on ground, first and second floors plus ancillary storage and offices on the remaining floors.

The property offers potential for redevelopment or alternative uses, subject to the necessary planning consents, and may suit investors, owner occupiers or developers seeking a value-add opportunity.

VAT is applicable to this sale.

Each party to bear their own legal costs in the transaction.


The property won consent at appeal in 2012 (11/1065/FUL) for development to form 13 residential units with retention of the existing retail use on the ground and first floors plus ancillary storage on second floor. This scheme proposed the re-use of the existing buildings with upper floor development, rather than wholesale redevelopment. This consent has been part-implemented and remains current.

Pre-Application consultation advice (26/0121/MPS) was obtained in April 2026 in respect of proposed amendments to the previous proposals to permit a greater scale of development involving demolition of the existing buildings (with retention of the Fore Street frontage). The proposed configuration comprises a larger number of flats and a reduction in the size of the proposed ground floor retail units. A copy of this document is available on request. The document makes reference to the recent redevelopment of the nearby City Arcade (consented in 2018) to form 64 student units plus ground floor retail units.

In light of this pre-consultation advice, an architect's appraisal of the site's potential configuration has been provided. The indicative scheme envisages the two retail units with rear loading on the ground floor plus around 20 1-bed flats and 10 2-bed flats on four upper floors. These units are considered to be viable within the massing which was permitted by the 2012 consent, and an increase in the massing of the site could allow for a greater number of units.

The building is not Listed but is situated in a Conservation Area.

A proposed redevelopment scheme for the adjoining building (99-101 Fore Street) is currently awaiting determination: ref. 24/0846/FUL.