The former Woolwich banking hall on the corner of Lune Street and Fishergate and the building recently left by HSBC are due to go up for auction in the next month.

The Lune Street premises is up for sale with a guide price of £650,000 at an auction next Tuesday.

It has been stood empty for almost a year after Woolwich moved out last summer.

George Walker, of auctioneers Allsop, said property investors from across the country were expected to attend the auction on Regent Street in central London.

He said: "I would expect there to be a few local buyers looking at this property but there will be 500 people in that room and therefore we are pretty confident it will sell.

"People are still keen on interesting buildings in prominent locations, so it may very well go for more than the guide price."

HSBC relocated its retail banking to a new premises on Fishergate earlier this month and shifted its business banking unit up to Caxton Road, Fulwood, leaving its landmark banking hall empty.

A company spokesman has confirmed the building will be going up for auction.

Commercial property experts in Preston have expressed doubt whether either building would be snapped up due to the crippling costs of renovating it.

Partner Stephen Hodgson, of law firm Marsden Rawsthorn, said: "Both buildings have been built as banks and have very little potential to turn them into anything else.

"They will not make good retail sites.

"Their only real potential is as licensed premises and there is a bit of a halt on those in Preston at the moment."

Danny Pinkus, partner at commercial property agents Robert Pinkus and Co, said that property investment had declined along with the national economic slowdown.

He said: "There is a nervousness in Preston for the major plc retailers to commit to long-term leases on places like Fishergate until the details of what is going on with Tithebarn become apparent. It is wait and see right now."

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