Legal & General has bought the 80,000 sq ft (7,430 sq m) Clements department store at 23/33 The Parade, Watford, for £7 million.

It plans to refurbish the six-storey building, and has already lined up a pre-letting to TJ Hughes on a 25-year lease.

Clements had been trading at Watford for more than a century, but the store, on one of the town’s prime retail thoroughfares, closed in January.

Clements was advised by Blair Kirkman and Jackson Criss. Blair Kirkman director Peter Ratcliff said: ‘This confirms the continued strong demand for retail investments in good city centre locations.’