THE British retail giant Sainsbury's has announced that it is to build its Newry supermarket in the centre of the town, rather than on the site of the old Unipork bacon factory, as previously planned.
Sainsbury's has laced fierce opposition to its plans for out of town stores in towns like Derry and Coleraine, and is already involved in one public enquiry, prompted by the strength of opposition from rival retail interests such as Boots and Wellworths.
The company's regional property director, Mr Chris Fenner said that subject to planning permission, the Newry store and filling station would be built in the town centre. However, it is understood that the chain is still contractually bound to its previous site, which it is likely to turn over to non retail uses, probably warehousing.
"When we first looked at Newry over 12 months ago," Mr Fenner said, "We did look for a town centre site, as we do in every town. When we couldn't find one, we opted for the bacon factory site. We prefer town centres. Over 60 per cent of our stores are on town centre sites." However, critics have said that these are mostly sites that Sainsbury's has had for decades, and that its recent preference has been for out of town stores. Since planning permission for out of town developments is now much harder to come by in England and Wales, they claim the company has turned its attention to Northern Ireland.
But Mr Fenner says that this, is not true, and that the company's willingness to open a store in the cent re of Newry proves that such claims are without foundation.
Meanwhile, the Co op has announced plans for a £5 million superstore in Belfast city centre. The 22,000 sq ft development will be built on the site of the Isaac Agnew car dealership on the Lisburn Road. Work is due to begin next month and the store is due to open in December.
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