Has your nearest pub become a Tesco Express? Protesters find themselves virtually powerless to stop supermarkets taking over
When local residents and traders found that the Bird in Hand pub in Brickhill, Bedford, would be converted into a Tesco Express, they were determined to resist. Within three weeks, an action group collected 1,500 signatures protesting against the store. Hundreds turned out for a public meeting.
Councillors were lobbied, a protest website set up, boycotts organised. The protestors found a restrictive covenant that said the site could not sell anything more than tobacco, alcohol and mineral water. A community poll in October, which drew a higher turnout than the town’s mayoral referendum, gave a thumping ‘no’. In total, 1,080 people voted against Tesco, and only 69 in favour.
But the protests fell on deaf ears, and in February the retail giant took over the Bird in Hand, its eighth store in Bedford. Despite the Brickhill protests, Tesco has now found another pub across town, the Crown, which it plans to convert into what will be its ninth Bedford store.
Tesco says the new stores bring more choice to the area, generate investment and create new jobs. But protestors disagree. “This town is being crushed by the monopoly that Tesco is developing,” said one on the Save Brickhill Shops website.
Across Britain, hundreds of pubs are being converted into Tesco Express or Sainsbury’s Local stores as supermarkets pursue a “street corner” growth strategy in the face of restrictions on out-of-town developments. Tesco has opened 1,500 Express stores already and plans hundreds more. Sainsbury’s has 400 Locals, Morrisons is trialling its M-Local stores and Waitrose is rolling out 300 Little stores. The Co-op is also planning a big expansion of its convenience store format.
The march of the retail giants has met with fierce, but almost entirely fruitless, resistance across the country. The roll-call of failed campaigns is lengthy; the Red Lion in Milford, the Black Bull in Kirklees, the Alexandra in Wigan, the Carpenter’s Arms in Cardiff, the Honeysuckle Arms in Gateshead, the Angel Inn in Caerleon near Newport, the Marsham Arms in Chelmsford … the list could run on and on.
But why are pubs targeted? Critics say a legal loophole allows them to be converted to mini-markets without planning permission, leaving councils powerless to halt the process. What’s more, as long as the floor space is no more than 280 sq metres (3,000 sq ft), the retailer can bypass the Sunday Trading Act and remain open all hours.
Councils that oppose redevelopment may find themselves in long legal battles. Tesco recently submitted its fourth application for the Fox and Hounds pub on Abingdon Road, Oxford, which has been turned down three times by the council.
Tesco stated that: “The legal position with regards to the proposals is that the building as it stands can be used for retail without the need for planning permission.”
The retail giants have rich pickings from the flood of pubs coming on to the market. Although the rate of pub closures has fallen from a peak of about 200 a month in the first half of 2009, around 15 still shut every week.
Ian Murray MP, Labour’s shadow consumer affairs minister, is backing a campaign in his constituency, Edinburgh South, against the opening of a Sainsbury’s Local. “We have seen all over Edinburgh how the arrival of the Metros, Expresses and Locals draws the lifeblood out of streets. Sometimes we see them going up either side of the same street. Other stores find it difficult to compete, even though it’s not the case that the multiples are any cheaper than local shops. Other shops close down, charity shops move in, and the street’s vitality fades away.
“The government has to respond to the [Mary] Portas review, and local planning needs to be given more teeth. It’s important that unique shopping streets remain vibrant.”
Around a 10th of Britain’s smaller convenience stores have closed in the last decade, according to the Association of Convenience Stores. A spokesman for the ACS said: “We’re seeing a really aggressive wave of expansion by Tesco, Sainsburys and Morrisons. We’re not saying they shouldn’t be given permission, but are they really appropriate in all locations? Local traders don’t feel that they get the chance to have a say.”
The ACS points out traders rooted in their community are more likely to use local suppliers and have a multiplier effect. For example, a local store is likely to employ a local accountant to do the books, whereas Sainsbury’s or Tesco will centralise such functions.
Tesco says it has no specific strategy of targeting pubs. “We just follow where our customers are,” says spokesman Michael Kissman. “Communities are interested when there is change on their high street, so we proactively write to residents before opening a store. Our Express stores bring thousands of people back to the high street and produce real jobs.
“We are the largest investor on the high street at the moment. For example, look at our Express store in Kensington, Liverpool, which is not far from Toxteth. We have been well received as we bring good-value fresh food into the area and a cash machine that doesn’t charge £1.50 a time.”
Sainsbury’s says many of the pubs it has taken over were eyesores. “For example, we have opened a Sainsbury’s Local in a derelict pub in Withington, Manchester. This Grade II-listed building had been empty for several years before being refurbished and restored by a developer and offered to us. It is now providing a convenient shopping location for customers in the area.”
But Bobby Chambers, who has run a newsagent in Brickhill, Bedford, says any jobs created by the Tesco Express opening a few doors from him in the old Bird in Hand will be wiped out by job losses elsewhere. “Other shops on the parade won’t survive. It’s complete overkill. Since the Tesco opened last month our takings have been down 15%-20%. But the likes of Tesco will always win because a small independent can’t compete against a multibillion-pound company. If they want, they could sit there for years making a loss while the rest of us go out of business.”
Tescopoly.org, an alliance of organisations concerned about supermarket power, claims supermarkets erode local choice, siphon money from local communities, destroy local jobs, exploit suppliers and damage the environment. Its website hosts hundreds of tales of battles against retail giants around the country.
Bedford’s nine Tescos, plus four One Stop stores in the area which are also owned by Tesco, means the town now vies with Inverness as Britain’s No 1 “Tesco Town”. Bedford mayor Dave Hodgson says: “We haven’t fallen over in front of Tesco, but under the current planning framework you can’t stop Tesco taking over a pub. We sought legal advice over the restrictive covenants [on the Bird in Hand] but we were advised they were probably not enforceable. I regret the fact we have lost fishmongers, butchers and greengrocers but our town centre market is thriving, with takings up over 17% on the year.
“I went to a school debating society near Brickhill where they voted against the opening of the Tesco. But every one of the children I spoke to after said that they and their parents went to Tesco, that the special offers were great and how good it was. And since it opened in Brickhill, the only complaints I’ve had are from people about the lack of parking, because so many people are going there.”
Case study: Bruntsfield, Edinburgh
Campaign to save this much-loved deli from the march of Sainsbury’s. Photograph: Phil Wilkinson/TSPLBruntsfield is one of Edinburgh’s more prosperous and affluent districts, with elegant tenements and streets of handsome Victorian villas.
Upmarket restaurants and independent boutiques line the thriving main shopping street, which heads out towards Morningside, home to some of the city’s most exclusive addresses. So when traders and residents found that Sainsbury’s Local was elbowing in, it provoked a fierce backlash.
In this instance it’s not a pub, but a much-loved local deli, Peckham’s, that Sainsbury’s is replacing with what critics say is just another me-too, bland addition to its chain of 400 “Local” mini-supermarkets.
Peckham’s fans talked of its high-quality foods, much of it locally-sourced, and a cheese and wine selection that went beyond the usual brands seen in the major chains – although they also complained about high prices. Many fear that the arrival of another chain store into what locals describe as Edinburgh’s answer to Notting Hill, will wreck the unique charm of the area and devastate local independent shops.
A “Say No To Sainsbury’s” campaign began on Facebook, although most accept that, in reality, Sainsbury’s arrival is a fait accompli.
Karen Mackay, who runs the Nippers children’s clothing company in Bruntsfield Place, says it’s not about traders ganging up against a new arrival to protect their profits.
“I’m not in competition with Sainsbury’s at all. What irks us most is how the multiple chains are infiltrating every corner of every high street in the country. We just think enough is enough.
“But despite the best actions of local traders and residents, they’re still likely to come in. They just seem to bulldoze their way in everywhere.
“It’s also about aesthetics. It’s a listed Victorian building. Do we really want Sainsbury’s signage and neon all over the building? What’s to like?
“Every other area invaded by the chains has empty shops because the independents don’t have the same buying power and can’t compete. So they close down and the charity shops come in. To be honest this is about the only area of Edinburgh that has managed to escape turning into a street of charity shops, but now I wonder.”
Ian Somerville, a local food blogger, says: “There’s Tescos and there are Sainsbury’s Locals everywhere at the moment, and I think Bruntsfield is well-known for its locally-owned traders, and I think loads of people are going to suffer. It just feels like if there is not one big corporation popping up somewhere, it’s another down the road with Starbucks and the big Costa.
“When we first came to Bruntsfield more than 10 years ago, there was a greengrocers, a small general store (Spar), a newsagent, a butcher, two delis and two fishmongers, as well as Oddbins and Wine Rack. What we really liked was that we could get everything we needed without having to go to a soulless supermarket.
“Then Tesco opened a store in the area. One by one, small individual shops have closed with the latest casualty being Peckham’s.
“Peckham’s opened my eyes to the range of different beer from Scotland and they supported Scottish suppliers – Ramsay’s bacon, Summer Isles Foods and Simple Simon’s pies. Now, apparently, Sainsbury is to take over the Peckham’s site – another nail in the coffin of small businesses.”
A spokesperson for Sainsbury’s said: “We are confident that our Bruntsfield Place Local will be a positive investment in the high street when it opens in June adding to the existing vibrant mix of businesses, and we have engaged traders and the local MP on our plans.
“Sainsbury’s is actively investing in high streets in Scotland with Morningside Road in Edinburgh being a good example of where opening a Local in derelict units has been welcomed.”
Case study: Herne, Kent
The Upper Red Lion in Herne, Kent. Photograph: Jim BennettIt takes a lot to stir a quiet Kent village into demonstrating in the streets, but when Tesco applied to convert the village pub into an Express store, sited between a church dating back to 1350 and the local post office, local residents erupted in anger. Despite rain and cold, more than 700 marched through the village in early March, waving “Herne Against Tesco” placards.
Unlike almost every other campaign around the country, however, this time the protestors won. Tesco has decided to pull out of the village, and now local residents are drawing up plans for how best to use the Upper Red Lion.
Although Tesco promised to create 20 jobs and be a “good neighbour” Herne Against Tesco said it wanted to keep the village free from “corporate business”.
Alan Marsh, a Kent county councillor who helped spearhead the campaign, insists that few local people were opposed to Tesco in principle, but were just concerned that an Express store on the site would blight the character of the village.
“We struck up a relationship with Tesco right from the start, and let them know it really wouldn’t work to have a Tesco between the graveyard and the village shop and with nowhere to park,” he says.
“It would have been a horrible traffic situation. Everyone thought it was an injustice. After Tesco withdrew we helped them find other locations where an Express store might work.”
Herne Against Tesco drew support from across the political spectrum, with parish and county councillors joining solicitors and accountants on a 20-strong committee to fight the proposals.
“No one envisaged the incredible level of support that we got on that march,” Marsh says. “We closed the road, little children made their own banners, adults were waving placards, there were 20 stewards, indeed it took more than half an hour for the marchers to cross the road, and everyone from the village came out.
“The next day it was on social media, YouTube and Facebook and my goodness everything was flying around,” he adds. “Then on the Friday afternoon, Tesco called and said they wouldn’t be going ahead.”
A spokesman for Tesco said: “We hadn’t actually bought the site in Herne or even submitted an application, but we had written to people expressing our interest.
“From our consultation, we found that people were concerned that it would be difficult for Tesco to make truck deliveries to that particular site. We decided that it was not a great place for a shop. I’m proud of the fact that it shows we listen to our customers.”
Sourced from The Guardian Newspaper
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