Monday 4 July 2011

Tesco Town Reading

Plans afoot for a 14th Tesco in Reading. Near the proposed 13th on the Oxford Road.

While they plan a huge new distributuion centre.

A few years ago (the previous general election) when they wanted to build a huge Tesco on the Oxford Rd, despite another one of similar size a mile away, we were the only ones opposing this disasterous development

All the other parties either though it was a good idea, or though Tesco was simply too big to oppose. At Council meetings there was not a single voice from the Tory, Lab or LD against them. Most Cllrs thought it would even bring more shoppers to the area. How wrong they were.

I predicted that small shops would close and traffic would get worse. And unfortunately I was correct. Since then many more Tescos have opened, though now all politicians speak of protest, they seem incapable of stopping the leviathan. They should try harder.

There are ways. Give the monopolies comission some teeth. Make the planners respond to what people want, not just who has the most money.

Foe some previous campaigns:
greenreading.blogspot.com/2009/12/tenth-tesco-set-to-open-in-reading.html
greenreading.blogspot.com/2007/10/reasons-to-stop-tesco-building-new.html

5 comments:

Ed said...

I must say I don't have any strong views one way or the other on Tesco stores however I am interested to know if you see a substantive difference between the Co-Op opening up a "local" store and Tesco opening an Express (similar footprint, location etc)?


Thanks, Ed

howard thomas said...

"give the monopolies commission teeth" ....Fair enough

"give the people what they want"...........clearly they want to shop at Tesco !

And when was it a mile from the Battle site to Napier road ?

Adrian Windisch said...

Tesco is a giant corporation that takes over towns. The coop is not in their league, in this case size matters.

Ok Howard, not exactly a mile, but not far away. Perhaps a mile and a half?

Many hundreds of people signed the petition to stop this tesco, at the planning meeting no one spoke for tesco yet they still won. And the oxford road store is not popular with shoppers, when Ive been there the place seems empty compared to Napier rd. er towns. The coop is not in their league, in this case size matters.

Ok Howard, not exactly a mile, but not far away. Perhaps a mile and a half?

Many hundreds of people signed the petition to stop this tesco, at the planning meeting no one spoke for tesco yet they still won. And the oxford road store is not popular with shoppers, when Ive been there the place seems empty compared to Napier rd.

Ed said...

Okay. Thanks for clarifying.

How many Co-Ops are there is Reading, I wonder. I can think of 6 at least.

The one on Erleigh Road is always absolutely rammed with people queueing almost to the back of the shop.

Presumably if the Oxford Road Tesco isn't popular, they'll eventually close it in favour of more profitable outlets.

Ed.

howard thomas said...

Car park to car park is 3 miles !
Still close together for big stores, but lets have it right.
As for the usage of the Oxford road store, I find it just as busy as the other store