The Gym Group is set to take on the site of the former BHS store at The Mall shopping centre in Walthamstow.

The centre has signed a 20-year deal with the health chain to take on part of the 25,000 square-foot unit vacated when BHS went bust in August.

The Gym, which has 96 branches across the UK, will be open 24 hours a day when the new Walthamstow branch launches in mid-2017.

Alasdair Currie, centre manager at The Mall, said: “The Gym will further improve our tenant mix for our customers and forms a key part of our transformational plans for a location that is emerging as one of London's most vibrant neighbourhoods.”

The Mall is also in advanced talks with a “major food retailer” to take on the remaining space left by the closure of BHS.

The department store closed the last of its 150 branches earlier this year, 88 years after the business was launched on the high street.

BHS collapsed in April, affecting 11,000 jobs, 22,000 pensions and sparking a lengthy parliamentary inquiry.

Retail billionaire Sir Philip Green has borne the brunt of the public fallout, having been branded the "unacceptable face of capitalism" by furious MPs.

Sir Philip owned BHS for 15 years before selling it to serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell for £1 in 2015.