Three for two from Tesco

Adam Hewitt • Published 27 May 2010 13:00 0 Comments

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TWO Tescos a mile apart might test any shopping addict but now the superstore wants to plonk another branch between them.

The company yesterday defended its move to revive a planning application, abandoned in January last year, to build an Express store on the TransAuto Garage site at 211-221 Oxford Road on land it bought in 2007.

The site is half-a-mile from its Oxford Road Extra superstore and half-a-mile in the other direction from another planned shop at the former Blockbuster store near Cheapside. If both were to open, there will be 12 Tescos in the Reading urban area.

Tesco spokeswoman Melanie Chiswell said: "It is a convenience store and most customers who use convenience stores come on foot from within a 500m catchment and sometimes from up to a kilometre. We have done our research and there is a large population in this area fitting that profile"

In a Chronicle investigation into 'Tesco Town' earlier this year, many shoppers said they valued the convenience and low prices, but others said the abundance of Tescos was harming local businesses.

Reading West Green parliamentary challenger Adrian Windisch, who has campaigned against Tesco's relentless expansion, said yesterday (Wednesday): "Twelve is just far too many, it's astonishing. I think the company should be broken up to provide for proper competition. This number of Tescos is bad for customers, bad for other retailers and bad for Reading."

Jake Dean, who works near the new Express site at Richer Sounds, said of the Tesco planned for Cheapside: "There's far too many of them already. They have cheaper prices but ultimately it's bad for everyone and there's been a real decline in Oxford Road."

The store's application is for change of use from garage to class A1 (shop) and B1 (office), with extra parking and loading areas at the front.

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