Waitrose has pulled out of plans to expand its Caversham store, the Reading Chronicle can reveal.

Just weeks before the planned redevelopment of St Martin's Precinct was due to start the supermarket has withdrawn.

The Church Street supermarket was going to expand by about a third and take over the space currently occupied by Superdrug.

The health and beauty chain store was then set to move into another unit in the multi-million pound development that was due to begin this month.

Waitrose, whose headquarters is in Bracknell, has announced that they can no longer participate in the development due to "current market forces" and had wanted but failed "to find a way to make it work despite exploring every opportunity".

However, a spokesman for the supermarket chain, James Armstong, said the company was committed to stay in the suburb north of the Thames River.

He said: “It is not a decision we have taken lightly; our intention was always to reach an agreement with Hermes in order to deliver a larger branch with an improved shopping experience for our customers.

“We are grateful to Hermes and the Council’s planners for all their efforts, but following well documented changes in trading conditions across the supermarket sector and shifts in customer shopping patterns we reviewed our plan and have decided not to progress further at this time.

“We are sorry for any disappointment and would like to thank everyone who gave us their feedback during the consultation. We will continue to work hard to build on 30 years of serving Caversham and provide a service that encourages shoppers to visit the town.”

The expanded Waitrose was also going to include public toilets so the current conveniences situated in the car park could be torn down.

The redevelopment plans included the building apartments on a newly built restaurant that was going to be a Pizza Express and developers Hermes Investment Management were working on creating a boutique cinema above Iceland. Plans were approved by Reading Borough Council in April this year after around 18 months of public consultation.

Chris Walton, chairman of Caversham Traders Association, and owner of Waltons Jewellers said Caversham could now be left with empty units that had been vacated by businesses at the end of tenancy periods.

He added that it also appeared that the multi storey car park to create more parking in the shopping area was set to be axed too.

He said: "It looks like it's back to the drawing board for Hermes.

"That will leave us with less car parking spaces which is crazy when they are still creating an area which will attract people to come to."

"It is not good for Caversham to have empty units.

"Shops were leaving and others were waiting for the redevelopment so once it was all done, new shops could move in. This puts the kibosh to that."

Hermes have been contacted for further information.