RESIDENTS of Bentham woke up last weekend to find that the old Ronnie Flemings butcher's had gone, with only the outhouse remaining. 

The unit had been vacant for months, after being put on the market last year. 

According to the planning document, the land will be turned into a new office unit. 

The Westmorland Gazette: The vacant retail unit in March this yearThe vacant retail unit in March this year

The landowners also own 43 Main Street next to the now empty plot of land. This is a two-storey building with Fisher Hopper estate agents on the bottom and a residential apartment on the top. 

The planning application requested a change of use to 43 Main Street which would convert the office space into a residential block, making the building entirely residential. 

This means that the landowners intend the old butchers to now be the commercial space, once they have built an office unit.

A local resident put up a Facebook post about the building being knocked down, with a mostly positive response in the comments. There were some nostalgic comments talking about Ronnie Flemings, one saying 'another bit of old Bentham gone.' 

However, another comment said that the building 'was in a right state.' 

The Westmorland Gazette: The butchers back in 2008The butchers back in 2008

Even further in the past, the butcher's was called Dick Kidds according to the Facebook comments. 

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