Live music venues, children's entertainment or just more affordable shops. These are some of the things visitors to The Lexicon in Bracknell town centre have said they’d like to see in the space left empty after plans to build The Deck were dropped.

The area opposite The Bull pub on High Street in Bracknell town centre has been boarded off for years following the demolition of the Bentalls department store.

But after years of delays, developer Bracknell Regeneration Partnership has dropped plans to build a new public space featuring shops, bars and restaurants – and is beginning a “major rethink”.

Bracknell residents and visitors to the town centre have given their views on what they’d like to see there instead.

READ MORE: The Deck Bracknell: town centre plans finally scrapped

Colette Rossiter, 33, said she’d like to see better nightlife in Bracknell. She said: “It would be nice to see bars for young people, or to see somewhere that plays live music – that would be amazing.

“At the moment if you want a night out you have to go to Reading or Wokingham.”

Matt Hodgson, 50, also said he’d like to see more places to go in the evening – and a place to do food shopping at night.

He said: “There’s no real nightlife here. This bit of town is dead past 10pm. And we need a 24 hour shop.

“I live in the town centre and I’ve got to walk all the way to Morrison’s on Skimped Hill Lane to get anything past 9pm.”

But he added: “I like this town. It’s quite a nice, clean town. It’s better than a lot of the other towns in the locality.”

Denise, 41, said more family activities would be welcome. She said: “I’m not sure they need more food places – maybe something to do.

“There are lots of places to shop, but if you’ve got the kids with you, something else to do would be a good thing.”

Suzanne Kingston said the town centre could benefit from more moderately priced shops. She said: “We’ve got too many expensive brands, but not enough middle of the road places. That’s what my 20 year old daughter wants.” She added: “Fenwick is fantastic, but it’s empty and expensive.”

And Mark, 35, said: “Anything that makes the place bigger and better would be good. They need a Zara – that’s the only shop not yet in this town.”

Bracknell Regeneration Partnership has yet to draw up plans for the future of the empty space. But Bracknell Forest councillor Paul Bidwell – responsible for regeneration – has said in the meantime it could be opened up for temporary uses such as food stalls and children’s activities.