A RETAIL building that has stood empty for seven months will be brought back to life as four apartments.

The building, on North Road at the Whessoe Road junction, formerly housed a sandwich shop, a fabrics store and a partyware shop but has been vacant since August last year.

Darlington Council planners approved an application to convert the building into four apartments after agreeing that bringing a vacant building back into use outweighed the negative of losing it as a retail premises.