2:20pm Tuesday 17th February 2009
By Oliver Evans
A TESCO Express is to open in a boarded up pub in the Cressex area of High Wycombe.
The supermarket giant is open the store in the former Turnpike pub in New Road in the summer.
The store will create 20 to 30 new jobs and probably open to 6am to 11pm, Tesco said. It will have 11 parking spaces.
News of the development – which does not need planning permission – received a mixed reaction from residents and businesses.
Some said the store would give shoppers greater choice while others said it would generate too much traffic.
Juliette Bishop, Tesco corporate affairs manager, said: "Tesco can confirm that we have plans to convert the former Turnpike Pub on New Road, High Wycombe into a Tesco Express store.
“This is an excellent opportunity for a Tesco Express with lots of people living in the immediate area, which is currently under served for convenience retailing.
“An Express store's purpose would be to serve the immediate neighbourhood around it.”
She said the store was aimed at “local residents who want to walk or cycle to shop” and bosses would apply for an alcohol licence.
The development is less than a mile from another Tesco Express on Marlow Road.
There is another at Amersham Road, Terriers and two superstores, in the town centre and Loudwater.
The nearest other supermarket is One Stop, opposite, which is also owned by Tesco.
Shopkeepers in the row of businesses next to the pub gave a mixed reaction.
Jan Beshaw of Amelia Flowers said: “I think it would be better for this area rather than a pub, that was really run down. It will bring more people to the area.”
Lal Lalsirna, of KS Food and Wine, said: “If they can cope with the parking then it is alright, it is good for the community.
“It will affect my business. If they want to open a store that is up to them, that is business.”
But Ann Stilwell, supervisor at Lloyds Pharmacy, said: “Traffic would be horrendous.
“There is always problems with parking and I just think it would be worse. We have all we need up here.
“There should be a health centre there, something for the community would be better.”
But Frank Centauro, 64, who lives in Turnpike Way, opposite the site, said the plan was “awful”.
He said: “There will be traffic noise and people banging doors. We don’t want it there.”
Nicola Wall, 40, who lives about 100 yards away on Cressex Road, said she would benefit but those living closer would suffer from noise.
She said: “It sounds like a good idea to me, it will be convenient. It will probably put more traffic on the road, it wouldn’t really be a problem.”
Val Razzaq, a ward councillor for Booker and Cressex, said: “We used to have a shop on every corner years ago, now we want a Tesco on every corner.”
Cllr Razzq, of Wycombe District Council, added: “In this climate we do not need quite so many shops, to keep the others ones in business.
“I just feel sorry for the other shop keepers who have taken over from their forefathers.”
Fellow ward councillor Darren Hayday said he wanted to hear residents’ and businesses’ views on the scheme.
He said: “I am going to be studying the plans very carefully.”
The firm does not need planning permission to make the pub into a shop but does for other matters, such as putting up signs and having flats above the store.
Four applications – including a cash machine, signs and air conditioning – have been approved by officers.
A further application, for three flats and an extension, is being considered (see link, right, for full details).
Council spokesman Catherine Spalton said: “Changing from a pub to a shop is allowed under the current use of classes orders.”
She said about 90 per cent of all planning applications were decided by officers and not its development control committee, which is made up of councillors and meets in public.
Last years residents in Bourne End won a battle against plans to put a Tesco Express on The Parade (see links, right).
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