View Full Version : Tesco dancing on Asda's grave at the Mart in Thurso?
Could it be Tesco doing some work in preparation for their application to Highland Council to do nothing with the mart site for another three years? The Saxophone is still blowing hot and cold over the issue. http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/Latest-Tesco-plans-for-Thurso-go-on-display-23112012.htm
Mr P Cannop
26-Nov-12, 19:12
whats everyones views about the plans of the new tescos ??
whats everyones views about the plans of the new tescos ??
Do you have a link to these new plans?
Codwallop
26-Nov-12, 20:40
People from Tesco HQ in the Thurso store tonight looking for the public view. Should they build, extend the planning permission or sell the land. Did not appreciate me saying sell the land to ASDA or my other comment get rid of the concrete field and replace it with a grass one and take away the fencePeople from Tesco HQ in the Thurso store tonight looking for the public view. Should they build, extend the planning permission or sell the land. Did not appreciate me saying sell the land to ASDA or my other comment get rid of the concrete field and replace it with a grass one and take away the fence
Codwallop
26-Nov-12, 20:51
Don't Know what happen to my post above belief me I was not repeating myself
Mr P Cannop
26-Nov-12, 21:48
Do you have a link to these new plans?
sorry i dont
2little2late
27-Nov-12, 14:21
Asda Tain now do home delivery covering Dingwall to the Black Isle and as far north as Helmsdale for the time being. From next spring or sooner they will be delivering to Wick and Thurso. If anyone would like Asda home shopping deliveries and have friends or relatives within the Asda delivery area and do not mind travelling to collect they will be happy to meet up with you.
http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/Tesco-still-undecided-on-new-Thurso-development-28112012.htm
Tesco wants to retain planning permission for a new supermarket in Thurso, but remains undecided if it actually wants to build one.The supermarket giant maintains it has not made a final decision on the future of its proposed development of the town’s former auction site despite applying to renew its existing consent, which runs out in January.the quote above is from Tesco as published in the local press. Should Highland Council grant Tesco another three years to make up their minds to do nothing with the old mart site? What does everyone think?
Corporate manager Gloria Coates told the Caithness Courier no date had been announced for a final decision."We are genuinely considering two options for the site, either selling the site or building a new supermarket," she said."This hasn’t been decided yet but it is currently being looked at and obviously if we are going to consider building a new supermarket, we will have to renew our planning application at the site as the consent expires in less than two months."Obviously we are hopeful that planning permission will be granted. What we’re trying to do is ensure our best chance for development at the site, whether that is by us or someone else."Why on earth would Tesco ensure that 'someone else' would have the chance to develop the mart? Would that 'someone else' include Asda or Sainsbury's?
Humerous Vegetable
01-Dec-12, 15:02
People from Tesco HQ in the Thurso store tonight looking for the public view. Should they build, extend the planning permission or sell the land. Did not appreciate me saying sell the land to ASDA or my other comment get rid of the concrete field and replace it with a grass one and take away the fencePeople from Tesco HQ in the Thurso store tonight looking for the public view. Should they build, extend the planning permission or sell the land. Did not appreciate me saying sell the land to ASDA or my other comment get rid of the concrete field and replace it with a grass one and take away the fence
This is only so that they can say that they have had a "public consultation" - ask 1/2 a dozen people in the local area and they've ticked that box. Highland Council, Westminster and Holyrood do it all the time.
If we can't have a Sainsburys, I would like M&S to come to Caithness. They would make a profit even if I was the only customer!!!!!
I see Waitrose are opening in Stirling soon....saves me going down to Edinburgh then.
2little2late
02-Dec-12, 16:21
The fact of the matter is, Tesco are pooping themselves. They are scared of competition. They are bullies. If they weren't scared of the competition they wouldn't be against it. Since Asda has been in Inverness Tesco Ness-side hasn't been doing as well as they thought it would. If everyone hates Tesco so much, why don't they make a stance?
Mr P Cannop
02-Dec-12, 19:22
The fact of the matter is, Tesco are pooping themselves. They are scared of competition. They are bullies. If they weren't scared of the competition they wouldn't be against it. Since Asda has been in Inverness Tesco Ness-side hasn't been doing as well as they thought it would. If everyone hates Tesco so much, why don't they make a stance?
aye i agree 100%
Asda Tain now do home delivery covering Dingwall to the Black Isle and as far north as Helmsdale for the time being. From next spring or sooner they will be delivering to Wick and Thurso. If anyone would like Asda home shopping deliveries and have friends or relatives within the Asda delivery area and do not mind travelling to collect they will be happy to meet up with you.
If they were to deliver to Wick that would be great and I would definitely use it.
I'm surprised by the lack of vocal opposition to Tesco being offered another three years to decide not to build on the mart site. Is there no fight left in Thurso folk?
Plenty of fight but no ears to box that would make any difference!
are they definitely getting another 3 years?
if they do, wonder who got how much ...
are they definitely getting another 3 years? if they do, wonder who got how much ...I don't know if it's been decided for sure. Do you think they need longer than another 3 years? George Osborne told us yesterday that the country has another 5 or 6 years of austerity to look forward to. Are 'we' and Tesco and Highland Council all in this together?
I don't know if it's been decided for sure. Do you think they need longer than another 3 years? George Osborne told us yesterday that the country has another 5 or 6 years of austerity to look forward to. Are 'we' and Tesco and Highland Council all in this together?
I simply think we don't need another Tesco. Asda would be good to have - would give more of a choice. But that's my humble opinion.
All supermarkets are pretty much of a muchness. You can't put a pin amongst them. You would need to spend hours going round all of them to get all the offers for it actually to make a difference to your shopping. As for choice hmmmm I can understand the need for choice and I think having an ASDA and a TESCO in Caithness has to be better than two TESCOs. Will it make ant difference to the cost of the shopping. I doubt it. I don't think that TESCO should be allowed to hold the land and not build indefinitely. Lobby your councillor a and make them do something about it.
I suggest your opinion arises from having spent too much time in Tesco Town where there isn't much else. You can't seriously think there's no difference between Tesco and any of Waitrose, Markies and Sainsbury's. It's not about price alone, it's the quality of the goods and the quality of the customer experience that give unquantifiable added value.
Although I'm not in principle in favour of giving Tesco another three years to decide whether to do nothing with the mart site, I worry that it may be the only option up for discussion. Where is the Asda marketing machine? Who else might be seriously interested? A retail park like Wick's appears unlikely. What about housing? A public park might be nice. :)
Crayola All supermarkets ARE pretty much of a muchness.... They all sell Heinz beans and you walk around them with a trolley. Customer experience? In my experience most people want round as fast as possible, as cheaply as possible. I don't like Sainsburys and Marks and Spencer is ok if you are shopping for one or two of you but no use at all if you are shopping for a family of six. I quite like Morrisons and I like lidl but you can keep Aldi and ASDA is ok for a change. I have never in my life lived near to a Waitrose so can't comment. I use the local co op and butcher to keep me going and only do the supermarket when I have to.
Crayola All supermarkets ARE pretty much of a muchness.... They all sell Heinz beans and you walk around them with a trolley. Customer experience? In my experience most people want round as fast as possible, as cheaply as possible. I don't like Sainsburys and Marks and Spencer is ok if you are shopping for one or two of you but no use at all if you are shopping for a family of six. I quite like Morrisons and I like lidl but you can keep Aldi and ASDA is ok for a change. I have never in my life lived near to a Waitrose so can't comment. I use the local co op and butcher to keep me going and only do the supermarket when I have to.
If they're all much of a muchness why you do seem to have some very strong opinions on each one?
Crayola All supermarkets ARE pretty much of a muchness.... They all sell Heinz beans and you walk around them with a trolley. Customer experience? In my experience most people want round as fast as possible, as cheaply as possible. I don't like Sainsburys and Marks and Spencer is ok if you are shopping for one or two of you but no use at all if you are shopping for a family of six. I quite like Morrisons and I like lidl but you can keep Aldi and ASDA is ok for a change. I have never in my life lived near to a Waitrose so can't comment. I use the local co op and butcher to keep me going and only do the supermarket when I have to.
Someone should send this post to the OED and have them remove the definition for 'self-contradictory' and just replace it with this. What a beauty!
Lol lol lol....I guess they aren't all the same after all who would have thought it. Not me apparently lol.
Seems like my friend is right when she said I was "shelf contradictory" lol.
They are all supermarkets though. I go to whichever one suits me on the day but ... They all involve me walking bad temperedly around pushing a trolley when I have a thousand other things I would rather be doing. I HATE supermarket shopping so I don't really care if there are one or forty one they will all make me GRUMPY!
It might be a good idea for the council to ask the people who live in Thurso what they would like to happen with the land and see what they say. If everyone would like a Waitrose or a Sainsburys then maybe the councillors could approach the companies to try to entice them north.
Now should I go to Morrisons or TESCOs or the new ASDA or Sainsburys in Nairn or Lidl or Aldi...... Decisions decisions decisions .... How will I sleep???? I think I'll just pop to the coop.........
I think I'll just pop to the coop.........
You could do a lot worse.
I like the Co-op, they sell more local produce than any other big retailer and they are having a campaign (so I'm told) to keep packaging down on all their lines.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/dec/20/co-op-marks-spencer-greenest-supermarkets
I like the Co-op in principle but so many of their outlets are dingy and dull and their product ranges are limited and often downmarket. I don't like Tesco or Morrisons stores in general. The question here though is what to do about Tesco's request to extend their planning permission at the mart. If it's not given, what happens to the site? It could lie empty and useless for years if we don't push our councillors into doing something. Surely anything would be better than nothing. Wouldn't it? What would you all like to see at the mart site?
outsidethebox
11-Dec-12, 10:23
I still like the idea one of the candidates for councillor (can't remember which one) put forward about compulsory purchase and building a sports centre and performing arts centre for use by the high school and public in Thurso. But as I've heard nothing more about it I guess he wasn't elected, just the three old warriors responsible for the whole fiasco in the first place.
Tangerine-Dream
11-Dec-12, 21:27
Local established businesses in Thurso shutting down at a rate of knots yet a great "demand" from some people for one of these horrendous "same as" supermarkets to be erected. Is the little Tesco that's already in Thurso not enough? Is the Co-op not enough? What's the urge to have a ginormous supermarket parked right next to the train station? "welcome to Thurso" will become "welcome to ANOTHER Tesco town"...... what's wrong in keeping Thurso a unique town devoid of these culture destroying, profiteering racketeers that have turned the rest of the UK towns into "same as" anywhere else town.
Let me give you an example...... go to Oxford, have a walk round the city centre...... take a train to Reading.... have a walk around..... travel over to Swindon, have a walk around...... you would think you were in the exact same place! Tesco, ASDA, MacDonalds, KFC etc, etc. ALL there, usually in the same places (ie: Tesco next door to KFC and MacDonalds not far round the corner)...... it's like monopoly land..... you could be ANYWHERE in the UK, these racketeeers have sucked the life blood out of every town they've invaded and have turned the residents into "supermarket slaves"....... As soon as they land, the local businesses have no choice other than to sell up.
That lovely big suede (covered in mud and the size of a watermelon) that you can get for 60 pence in Harolds the butcher is replaced by a golf ball sized suede, wrapped in cellophane and yours for 99p from "Tesco"...... that lovely Reid's steak bridie is replaced by a "contents unknown" lump of low end pastry with not much more than "pastry" in it. You can buy a SACK of potatoes for a few quid locally..... go to Tesco and you'll be lucky to get 4 potatoes for the same price.
Do you really WANT to be another "same as" town, eating the same processed garbage or do you have some pride that Thurso is one of the last places on the map that these corporate giants haven't managed to buy? What do you NEED so badly that cannot already be provided to you by the shops that are already here (disappearing by the minute)? Please don't be fooled that you will "save" money if a giant Tesco / ASDA is erected, you will actually end up spending more.
I think Thurso should become pro-active in DENYING these profiteers access.... if you know where to look and don't expect a "grab bag" / "want it now" / "want it all under the same roof" type thing then you will get what you want a lot cheaper (and a lot better quality) than any of these corporate racketeering world dominating "outlets" can (or could ever) provide.
The old mart was "character"..... the current mud fest is nothing but a load of mud..... wanna build something on it? What about turning it into a field and filling it with sheep or is that too radical / insane an idea?
The LAST bastion of culture / community left in the UK and so many wanting to pay 99 pence for a golf ball sized, cellophane wrapped suede rather than go for a water melon sized local one for pennies.
Get some balls people..... fight these racketeers, don't encourage them!
secrets in symmetry
12-Dec-12, 01:09
The LAST bastion of culture / community left in the UK!Lol! Never before have I seen Thurso described as such! Have you ever been to Staxigoe? You'll love it there. :cool:
Stack Rock
12-Dec-12, 08:48
Lol! Never before have I seen Thurso described as such! Have you ever been to Staxigoe? You'll love it there. :cool:
What cheek
secrets in symmetry
12-Dec-12, 11:18
It wasn't cheek Stack Rock. Well, it wasn't cheek towards Staxigoe, which is the centre of human civilization on this Earth. :cool:
That other place on the north coast has been suffering from retail envy ever since Wick won Tesco and the Retail Park....
Stack Rock
12-Dec-12, 11:22
It wasn't cheek Stack Rock. Well, it wasn't cheek towards Staxigoe, which is the centre of human civilization on this Earth. :cool:
That other place on the north coast has been suffering from retail envy ever since Wick won Tesco and the Retail Park....
You're forgiven
secrets in symmetry
12-Dec-12, 12:21
You're forgivenThank you. I talk and listen. :cool:
Can I offer some advice to someone who can't distinguish between Oxford and Reading or Swindon Town centres? Open your eyes when you look. :) If you'd chosen Bracknell instead of Oxford you might have made some sense. Anyways, which run-down local shop in Thurso do you have a vested interest in? What are your lunchtime closing hours, do you close at or before 5pm and which are your half days? Bringing sheepies back to the mart is a nice idea. Let them live long lives instead of making mincemeat of them. :(
secrets in symmetry
15-Dec-12, 01:22
I had a Tesco "Italian Stonebaked Margherita Pizza" when I (eventually) staggered home from the pub after my work tonight.
It was disgusting. [disgust]
I hear Tesco have been tidying up the site in the hope that they will get another five years of dancing on Asda's grave. What's going to happen next? I predict nothing other than the Saxophone becoming louder and ever more atonal and ineffective. For once I hope I'm wrong but my hopes are like the Saxophone. Namely weak. :( http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/Five-years-and-still-no-Tesco-17012013.htm
2little2late
27-Jan-13, 02:50
I hear Tesco have been tidying up the site in the hope that they will get another five years of dancing on Asda's grave. What's going to happen next? I predict nothing other than the Saxophone becoming louder and ever more atonal and ineffective. For once I hope I'm wrong but my hopes are like the Saxophone. Namely weak. :( http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/Five-years-and-still-no-Tesco-17012013.htm
I'm afraid I have to agree with you crayola. At the end of the day money talks.
There's a site a few streets away from where I live which Tesco bought with the intention of putting up a store and fuel station but due to objections from a nearby Shell filling station, (100 yds away), and Sainsbury's, (300 yds away), plus I believe traffic management issues, planning permission was rejected until it could be amended. The site sat as a pile of rubble for ten years until recently when building commenced on it. Perhaps the mart site may go the same way :-/
http://www.bellway.co.uk/new-homes/wessex/titherley-park
Does it matter that Thurso Community Council have said no to Tesco extension? The only thing that counts is what Highland Council say. http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/Thurso-Community-Council-says-no-to-Tesco-extension-31012013.htm
Does it matter that Thurso Community Council have said no to Tesco extension? The only thing that counts is what Highland Council say. http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/Thurso-Community-Council-says-no-to-Tesco-extension-31012013.htm
but is community councillor Don smith's interpretation right about the mood of the town, Tesco does not deserve another chance to build? Or is he talking rubbish?
Either way they win.If they get planning they will sit on it for the five years.If they don't get planning they can blame the council for the site remaining as is.
but is community councillor Don smith's interpretation right about the mood of the town, Tesco does not deserve another chance to build? Or is he talking rubbish?You tell me Rheg. I've not been in touch with the mood for aeons. My fear is that mi16 is right and Tesco know it. That's why Gloria can pretend Tesco are happy for another supermarket chain to build on the mart site. :(
Apparently Highland Council will decide in mid May whether to extend Tesco's planning permission for three years. What will their decision be?
Today's meeting of the Highland Council North Planning Applications Committee was due to discuss Tesco's 'application to extend the lifespan of the consent [at Thurso Auction Mart] by 3 years'. Does anyone know what was decided at this meeting? Are Tesco still dancing or should 'Asda' and 'Tesco' be interchanged in the title of this thread?
Nothing new here ;) . http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/local/fife/tesco-land-grab-concern-in-cupar-1.121100
This is an interesting website too. http://www.tescopoly.org/campaign/thurso-highland
2little2late
17-Aug-13, 19:30
Tesco are pooping themselves. They do not like competition. I cannot believe the amount of Tesco customers that have had an Asda home shopping delivery this week in Wick and surrounding areas.
Tesco are pooping themselves. They do not like competition. I cannot believe the amount of Tesco customers that have had an Asda home shopping delivery this week in Wick and surrounding areas.To be fair, I cannot see the tiny loss of trade in the Wick area as being serious enough to make the Tesco powers that be defecate themselves.
I cannot believe the amount of Tesco customers that have had an Asda home shopping delivery this week in Wick and surrounding areas.
Ahh, so the Tesco customers are leaving in droves and buying from the competition are they eh? So are you going to share these magical figures you can't believe or are we going to have to guess? more to the point, i find it hard to believe that Asda would contact you personally and tell you exactly how many deliveries there have been........
What time does Tesco open tomorrow?
The likes of Tesco, Walmart, Sainsbury's et al need to be understood in their business model. It is not about trade they win, its about trade they keep from each other.
Asda were too slow, Tesco moved first and built a loss making store in Wick whilst making a blocking move of land banking while grabbing a former minimart in Thurso.
Asda will now try and chip away at this with deliveries, and fair play, it may bring some competition to the punters.
2little2late
18-Aug-13, 02:47
Ahh, so the Tesco customers are leaving in droves and buying from the competition are they eh? So are you going to share these magical figures you can't believe or are we going to have to guess? more to the point, i find it hard to believe that Asda would contact you personally and tell you exactly how many deliveries there have been........
What time does Tesco open tomorrow?
I know as I am a driver for Asda
outsidethebox
18-Aug-13, 10:10
I know as I am a driver for Asda
Don't suppose you would know if they plan on delivering to Thurso?
Don't suppose you would know if they plan on delivering to Thurso?
Just thinking. cant see why they would nt , taking the Causewaymire (now the A9) the distance is miminamal
outsidethebox
18-Aug-13, 11:49
well I can't see why they wouldn't either, but thought I would ask someone who might know
Today's meeting of the Highland Council North Planning Applications Committee was due to discuss Tesco's 'application to extend the lifespan of the consent [at Thurso Auction Mart] by 3 years'. Does anyone know what was decided at this meeting? Are Tesco still dancing or should 'Asda' and 'Tesco' be interchanged in the title of this thread?I posted the above more than three months ago. Since then I have seen no announcement of a decision nor have I heard anything more on Tesco's plans from my contacts in the company. Has Tesco's planning permission been extended or have they been thrown out? Is Highland Council incompetent or have they gone to sleep in Tesco's pocket?
Why are you so obsessed? Just wondering?:D
Why are you so obsessed? Just wondering?:DObsessed? This thread alone has been open since 2009 and nothing has been done. The site is an embarrassment to the people and town of Thurso. If this is tourists first impression of Thurso no wonder they jump on a boat straight to Orkney.
It's a crusade rather than an obsession. I do not like to see my town taken to the cleaners or made a fool of by anyone let alone a giant multinational company. I spent my high school years watching and listening to sheepies during boring classes and I don't want them all to have been sacrificed so that Tesco can keep their rivals out of my town.
It's a crusade rather than an obsession. I do not like to see my town taken to the cleaners or made a fool of by anyone let alone a giant multinational company. I spent my high school years watching and listening to sheepies during boring classes and I don't want them all to have been sacrificed so that Tesco can keep their rivals out of my town.They haven't, the mart was out of business regardless
secrets in symmetry
12-Oct-13, 16:43
Perhaps Tesco have been dissuaded from investing in Caithness because of the vituperative anti-Tesco attitude that one so often sees on this forum?
outsidethebox
12-Oct-13, 16:54
amazing how not one of the highland councillors, community councillors, MP's or MEP's have anything to say on this now there are no elections on...
Isn't there a by-election looming in Landward Caithness to replace the wee boy who's accused of spending too much on his election campaign? The point about the sheepies is that the site of their demise has been turned into a wasteland by Tesco and that's not fair on their memory. The reason we don't glorify Gloria and her Tesco pals is that they've broken more promises about constructing the new Tesco than there are witches in a million Macbeths. :(
outsidethebox
17-Oct-13, 22:56
sadly the wee boy was actually making a good job of doing things for the people of Landward Caithness...
All I ever saw from the wee boy were personal pronouncements about his personal hobbies of the Garlic and the usual naive nationalism. Has he ever addressed the Tesco problem?
All I ever saw from the wee boy were personal pronouncements about his personal hobbies of the Garlic and the usual naive nationalism. Has he ever addressed the Tesco problem?
Thurso was not his ward.
The wee boy didn't represent anyone but himself. He took his garlic and his other hobbies and he projected them on to a population that didn't want them. He made more noise than every other garlic hobbyist when it came to garlic road signs and wasting money on garlic teaching in Thurso. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-23507745
Today's meeting of the Highland Council North Planning Applications Committee was due to discuss Tesco's 'application to extend the lifespan of the consent [at Thurso Auction Mart] by 3 years'. Does anyone know what was decided at this meeting? Are Tesco still dancing or should 'Asda' and 'Tesco' be interchanged in the title of this thread?It's nearly five months since I posted this in June this year. Have Highland Council decided whether to renew Tesco's planning permission to build on the mart site in Thurso? If so what was their decision and where was it announced publicly? Is this incompetence on Highland Council's part or are they conspiring in secret with Tesco? What are the opinions of the wee boy's would-be replacements as councillor for Landward Caithness?
I know I'm starting to sound like an old worn out record but what is the situation with Tesco and planning permission at the mart site? It was up for renewal at a Highland Council meeting last June. The meeting was announced publicly on the HC website and on several other websites. Since then nothing has been said or published as far as I can tell. It's important because other businesses are interested in the mart site.
So now we know. The ground at the mart may be chemically contaminated but Tesco say they want to go ahead and build a new superstore there anyway. Ha! Who else thinks all Tesco want is to extend their planning permission for another 5 years to hold onto the land without building anything at all? Needless to say the Saxophone is involved to no avail. He knew what's been going on but he hasn't achieved anything and he hasn't told us anything. So much for being our representative. I don't believe Tesco will build there in the forseeable future and probably they never will. Does anyone disagree? Read all about it in the local newspaper http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/D-day-looms-for-Thurso-store-impasse-08052014.htm
rogermellie
10-May-14, 22:51
i've said it before on here ...
Tesco are taking the absolute piss out of the people of Thurso
They know enough of us will keep flocking there and filling their tills so they don't give a tinker's toss
concerned resident
11-May-14, 07:59
I am quite happy now as Asda are delivering to me regular, and products far better than Tesco, and cheaper on my pocket, so Tesco can stick there site.
Mr P Cannop
11-May-14, 10:57
spoke to the manager in the thurso store he says tescos have no plans to open a new store
Kevin Milkins
11-May-14, 11:11
I'm sure he'll be delighted that he made that quote, Paul.
spoke to the manager in the thurso store he says tescos have no plans to open a new store
I am sure he is privvy to the goings on in the Tesco boardroom also
Mr P Cannop
11-May-14, 18:24
I am sure he is privvy to the goings on in the Tesco boardroom also
i think so
Ha ha I wonder when the council will learn the truth that Mr P Cannop's manager of Thurso's grotty wee Tesco already knows. :p
I'd be very surprised if the tesco executives were sharing their plans with a low level shopkeeper
Perambulate
16-May-14, 10:02
I'd be very surprised if the tesco executives were sharing their plans with a low level shopkeeper. Agreed!!
Mr P Cannop
16-May-14, 16:12
Ha ha I wonder when the council will learn the truth that Mr P Cannop's manager of Thurso's grotty wee Tesco already knows. :p
hes not my manager
Symbolically, he's your Tesco manager. Could someone ask him to tell the Highland Council that Tesco have no plans to build on the mart site? It would save the HC a lot of time. And effort. And money. Our money! :p
That would be an excellent career move
Mr P Cannop
17-May-14, 09:39
Symbolically, he's your Tesco manager. Could someone ask him to tell the Highland Council that Tesco have no plans to build on the mart site? It would save the HC a lot of time. And effort. And money. Our money! :p
no hes not i dont even work at tescos
I was speaking figuratively. He's your Tesco manager in the sense that the manager of your bank is your bank manager. Although that situation could change if he makes the career move of telling the HC that Tesco have no plans to build on the mart. :p. In which case he could be prospective manager of your big shiny new Asda at the mart. :D
So, do you think Tesco will take the council to court or appeal to the Scottish Government over this latest mind boggling yet exciting development as seen in 'e Courier the day?
So, do you think Tesco will take the council to court or appeal to the Scottish Government over this latest mind boggling yet exciting development as seen in 'e Courier the day?
What exciting development would this be? :roll:
I am very sorry, I seem to have posted a reply in an inappropriate place. I'm getting older by the second.
Thanks Susie for drawing that development to the attention of all of us. The HC have told Tesco to brick up or pack up but haven't given a timescale. This looks like a fudge to me and the only positive is that it's better than doing nothing. It's not encouraging that it took an FOI request to get the information into the public domain. The story in the local paper is here http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/Tesco-chiefs-told-to-build-Thurso-store-or-lose-permission-20052014.htm
Thanks Susie for drawing that development to the attention of all of us. The HC have told Tesco to brick up or pack up but haven't given a timescale. This looks like a fudge to me and the only positive is that it's better than doing nothing. It's not encouraging that it took an FOI request to get the information into the public domain. The story in the local paper is here http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/Tesco-chiefs-told-to-build-Thurso-store-or-lose-permission-20052014.htm Except that isn't what they have said at all, they threatened to revoke planning.Tesco have no desire to build so either way it's a winner.
Except that isn't what they have said at all, they threatened to revoke planning.Tesco have no desire to build so either way it's a winner.Yes you're right. I thought I was paraphrasing but on reflection I was reading too much into HC's threats. I'm normally good at reading between the lines but this time I suspect I was reading things that probably weren't even there figuratively speaking. Is this back to square one then?
Highland Council should have said build it in 6 months or we will compulsory purchase it and give the site to Asda. That might have given Tesco something to think about but I think the HC are so far in Tesco`s back pocket that they just let them do whatever they want.
Highland Council should have said build it in 6 months or we will compulsory purchase it and give the site to Asda. That might have given Tesco something to think about but I think the HC are so far in Tesco`s back pocket that they just let them do whatever they want. And you think the HC have the finances to take on Tesco in court?
Nope,that`s why Tesco can walk all over them.
Nope,that`s why Tesco can walk all over them. Correct.........
2little2late
25-May-14, 17:48
As long as the Highland council have shares in Tesco they'll always be in their favour. All this dictating to Tesco when to build is just a smoke screen.
As long as the Highland council have shares in Tesco they'll always be in their favour. All this dictating to Tesco when to build is just a smoke screen. Don't know about shares but they do have a financial interest in tesco
The irony for me is that I'm a very good customer of Tesco. I rarely venture into any of their stores but I use their home delivery service because they're the most reliable in my area. Unlike Sainsbury's and Asda they always turn up on time, they make fewer mistakes and they make fewer substitutions and omissions. I haven't tried Waitrose's delivery service because I like to go to the store to browse and buy things I like but don't need. :) How do Tesco and Asda delivery services compare in Caithness?
Doesn't anyone use or have an opinion on Tesco's home delivery service in Caithness and how it compares to Asda's. Do people in Thurso use it to avoid having to go through to Wick every time you do a big shop? Or do you use the new Asda service instead? How does that compare?
Doesn't anyone use or have an opinion on Tesco's home delivery service in Caithness and how it compares to Asda's. Do people in Thurso use it to avoid having to go through to Wick every time you do a big shop? Or so you use the new Asda service instead? How does that compare?
Maybe we're not so lazy up here & more of us are prepared to get up of our arses & actually go to the shop to get our own shopping...
Chook a demus
31-May-14, 15:11
I get my veggies from Puffin Croft my meat from Harrolds and try to avoid the big supee markets where possible prefer to spend ma money in tha local community supporting local business's
I get my veggies from Puffin Croft my meat from Harrolds and try to avoid the big supee markets where possible prefer to spend ma money in tha local community supporting local business's
By virtue of having a local shop and employing local staff then they are local business'
It's good to hear of people supporting local businesses. :) I don't go into Tesco or Morrison's stores because I don't like them. There's an Asda near me that's ok despite being full of proles. :p But if I do the occasional big shop in person I'll go to Sainsbury's. Waitrose gives the best personal shopping experience of the big chains. It's so much easier to dance my fingers across the keyboard and order from Tesco. It would be more environmentally friendly for Thurso folk to do that than for half the population to drive to Wick and back in their own cars. :D
It's good to hear of people supporting local businesses. :) I don't go into Tesco or Morrison's stores because I don't like them. There's an Asda near me that's ok despite being full of proles. :p But if I do the occasional big shop in person I'll go to Sainsbury's. Waitrose gives the best personal shopping experience of the big chains. It's so much easier to dance my fingers across the keyboard and order from Tesco. It would be more environmental friendly for Thurso folk to do that than for half the population drive to Wick and back in their own cars. :D Catch up crayola, we have had tesco in Thurso for quite a few years now
gingernut
31-May-14, 21:15
I avoid Tesco if at all possible and shop at Lidl. I can get almost everything I need at Lidl at a fraction of the cost.
I avoid Tesco if at all possible and shop at Lidl. I can get almost everything I need at Lidl at a fraction of the cost.Indeed....
Catch up crayola, we have had tesco in Thurso for quite a few years nowHa ha that dingy wee place isn't a proper Tesco. It has a tiny product range and even I would go to Lidl long before going in there. The view is so much better from Lidl. :D
Ha ha that dingy wee place isn't a proper Tesco. It has a tiny product range and even I would go to Lidl long before going in there. The view is so much better from Lidl. :DIf it says tesco over the door then it's a tescoDo you go to the shops for its view?Why not just stay outside
The interior of Thurso's Tesco has the atmosphere of a biscuit tin that's been raided by kids and all the best biscuits taken. All that's left is crumbs and the biscuits no-one wants. Lidl has that fabulous vista which lifts the soul and refreshes those parts of your brain that have been numbed by aisles and trolleys. The view at the mart would I assume be somewhere between the two. :p
The interior of Thurso's Tesco has the atmosphere of a biscuit tin that's been raided by kids and all the best biscuits taken. All that's left is crumbs and the biscuits no-one wants. Lidl has that fabulous vista which lifts the soul and refreshes those parts of your brain that have been numbed by aisles and trolleys. The view at the mart would I assume be somewhere between the two. :p
I go to the supermarket (as infrequently as possible) to buy my groceries, not soak up the ambience.
If I want ambience I go to the Grove
The interior of Thurso's Tesco has the atmosphere of a biscuit tin that's been raided by kids and all the best biscuits taken. All that's left is crumbs and the biscuits no-one wants. Lidl has that fabulous vista which lifts the soul and refreshes those parts of your brain that have been numbed by aisles and trolleys. The view at the mart would I assume be somewhere between the two. :pThe same vista that was taken away from the nearby residents when Lidl built their store. They should have built it at the bottom of the slope.
Tubthumper
01-Jun-14, 21:09
The same vista that was taken away from the nearby residents when Lidl built their store. They should have built it at the bottom of the slope.I thought the view was of the back of the 3 storey scapa house. The pishy smell from the Helmsman bar can still be noticed when the wind blows from the north.
thats the Glebe you are smelling
The same vista that was taken away from the nearby residents when Lidl built their store. They should have built it at the bottom of the slope.I don't know why they built Lidl so far up. But at least it's not a very tall building. If reports on another thread are accurate, Lidl are expanding down towards the main road anyways. That'll spoil the view for a few more local residents. :( But even then it won't be as bad as the Asda that was proposed for the field next to Pennyland farm. I still think Asda would have been granted planning permission next to BT if they'd asked for it.
I don't know why they built Lidl so far up. But at least it's not a very tall building. If reports on another thread are accurate, Lidl are expanding down towards the main road anyways. That'll spoil the view for a few more local residents. :( But it still won't be as bad as the Asda that was proposed for the field next to Pennyland farm. I still think Asda would have been granted planning permission next to BT if they'd asked for it. You do not have any right to a view, the only way you can ensure it is to buy the land
Ha ha that's a good suggestion. :) I see Tesco are in the news today with the headline 'Tesco reports sharp fall in sales'. Profits are down again also. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27692397 Tesco has 'also launched a programme of store ramps, which will see 650 stores across the UK upgraded in the next year'. This is consistent with what my Tesco manager contact was saying for years. Tesco's capital spending is on refurbishment rather than new build. The irony would be if they refurbish Thurso's current biscuit tin of a Tesco and turn it into a small jewellery box. :) That would turn the Saxophone apoplectic. :p What would Highland Council say? Would they start courting Asda for the mart?
Ha ha that's a good suggestion. :) I see Tesco are in the news today with the headline 'Tesco reports sharp fall in sales'. Profits are down again also. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27692397 Tesco has 'also launched a programme of store ramps, which will see 650 stores across the UK upgraded in the next year'. This is consistent with what my Tesco manager contact was saying for years. Tesco's capital spending is on refurbishment rather than new build. The irony would be if they refurbish Thurso's current biscuit tin of a Tesco and turn it into a small jewellery box. :) That would turn the Saxophone apoplectic. :p What would Highland Council say? Would they start courting Asda for the mart?
How could they offer land which is owned by another party to Asda?
It simply will not happen.
How could they offer land which is owned by another party to Asda?
By the power of witchcraft of course...
2little2late
05-Jun-14, 22:15
Ha ha that's a good suggestion. :) I see Tesco are in the news today with the headline 'Tesco reports sharp fall in sales'. Profits are down again also. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27692397 Tesco has 'also launched a programme of store ramps, which will see 650 stores across the UK upgraded in the next year'. This is consistent with what my Tesco manager contact was saying for years. Tesco's capital spending is on refurbishment rather than new build. The irony would be if they refurbish Thurso's current biscuit tin of a Tesco and turn it into a small jewellery box. :) That would turn the Saxophone apoplectic. :p What would Highland Council say? Would they start courting Asda for the mart?
Tesco had plans to refurb many of their stores soon after Philip Clarke became CEO. But as Tesco had a poor Christmas turnover it was cancelled and that was after spending millions of pounds preparing each relevant store for a refurb, sending each store new signage, shelving and equipment needed for the refurb. Then to top it all Phillip Clarke says on the news last night. " We will not reduce prices as less money through the tills is less profit." But surely if Tesco reduced prices they'd get more customers through the till resulting in more profits. If Lidl and Aldi can give us cheap prices then surely the so called big ones can?.
Well i went into Tesco tonight for my usual shop and left with about £30 worth of stuff less than what i normally buy. Most prices had been hiked by as much as 50-80p (i.e. chicken kievs, were £2 each or 2 for £3.50, now on a special deal at £2.10 each or 2 for £4? what's special about that then?) so i just bought a few bits and left. Lidl supplemented the rest together with a regretful but necessary stop off at the Co-op for one item (price was good). Tesco better stop gouging the customers because it won't work for them for much longer.
How could they offer land which is owned by another party to Asda?It simply will not happen.Courting is a slow gradual process which oftens begins while at least one party is still legally and ostensibly attached to a third or fourth party. Asda were shunned in Thurso by HC in favour of Tesco. First loves sometimes get back together when they realise they made a mistake in the first throes of lovemaking.
Courting is a slow gradual process which oftens begins while at least party is still legally and ostensibly attached to a third or fourth party. Asda were shunned in Thurso by HC in favour of Tesco. First loves sometimes get back together when they realise they made a mistake in the first throes of lovemaking.So what you are saying is that asda is thursos first love.But Thurso got tesco knocked up and subsequently married it?
Thurso and Tesco didn't get married. They live in squalor in a biscuit tin with a promise of something better from Tesco. HC can see that the tin is rusting rapidly and the jewellery box at the mart contains no wedding ring. In desperation they could go back to courting the suitor that they first thought could help them escape from the biscuit tin to a beautiful new home near Pennyland. There's no moral in this story. It's sleaze from beginning to end.
Thurso and Tesco didn't get married. They live in squalor in a biscuit tin with a promise of something better from Tesco. HC can see that the tin is rusting rapidly and the jewellery box at the mart contains no wedding ring. In desperation they could go back to courting the suitor that they first thought could help them escape from the biscuit tin to a beautiful new home near Pennyland. There's no moral in this story. It's sleaze from beginning to end. They could go back to their fort love but alas Tesco own the plot for the wod be marital home and that will not change plus HC have allowed Tesco control of a decent chink of the HC Pension therefore do not want a nasty common law divorce settlement
Tesco would have no use for the would-be marital home if it refurbishes its current biscuit store into a jewellery box. In which case it would be harder for it to resist HC efforts to repossess the site. HC could begin its wooing of Asda in parallel. And it could start to disinvest its pension fund from Tesco. Although desperate situations require desperate measures this could be viewed as a measured response by HC.
Tesco would have no use for the would-be marital home if it refurbishes its current biscuit store into a jewellery box. In which case it would be harder for it to resist HC efforts to repossess the site. HC could begin its wooing of Asda in parallel. And it could start to disinvest its pension fund from Tesco. Although desperate situations require desperate measures this could be viewed as a measured response by HC. And you think that Tesco would be daft enought not to have a clause in the sale that the land could not be sold to a competitor?
My business experience doesn't stretch to the ins and outs of how such an agreement would hold water if the council wanted to force them to sell. Could a compulsory purchase order be used here?
My business experience doesn't stretch to the ins and outs of how such an agreement would hold water if the council wanted to force them to sell. Could a compulsory purchase order be used here? Yes it could but could the HC afford to take on Tesco in court and would we, the locals be happy with our money being spent on QC,s etc?
Would it end up in a court with expensive QCs? I can't tell from the description of the appeal process in this link. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Built-Environment/planning/Appeals/whatwedo/cpoandotherorders
This Asda Tesco HC relationship sounds a bit salacious. Who's top, who's bottom and who's the bit on the side? :confused
Your personal perception of a ménage à trois is in my mind a reflection of wishful thinking. The problem is that there aren't even effective couples active at this time. I fear mi16 is right and the status quo will exist for some years yet. There will be no Tesco at the mart. There will be no Asda at the mart or indeed anywhere else in Thurso. And the mart site will continue to lie empty and to become ever more derelict and an even greater eyesore. Even the rats will move out. :(
Everyone knows the mart site is not the right place for a shop.
Everyone knew at the start that Tesco wouldn't build, except for the councillors who willed it through against the wishes of the people they are supposed to represent.
The councillors thought they could tell Tesco what to do. Tesco. Really? Have you seen the kinds of things Tesco has been up to in the past? Even the government can't control them. Tesco does what Tesco wants.
There should have been an Asda at Pennyland and if those who couldn't see it before still can't see it, then there's no hope for Thurso.
2little2late
23-Jun-14, 23:29
Tesco are SCUM! Scared of competition, They buy land in every town and city and refuse to build to prevent Asda or other supermarkets expanding their businesses. It's about time the government gave Tesco what for. Anyway, a good thing I suppose, Tesco profits were down by 6% this last quarter. Philip Clarke you are a failure! Did you know that all these supermarkets have software that every time Tesco or any other leading retailer are mentioned online it is tracked. Tesco you have had your day.
Tesco are SCUM! Scared of competition, They buy land in every town and city and refuse to build to prevent Asda or other supermarkets expanding their businesses. It's about time the government gave Tesco what for. Anyway, a good thing I suppose, Tesco profits were down by 6% this last quarter. Philip Clarke you are a failure! Did you know that all these supermarkets have software that every time Tesco or any other leading retailer are mentioned online it is tracked. Tesco you have had your day. I am not sure you could call a man who has worked his way from shelf stacker to CEO with a salary of over £1,000,000 a year a failure.I wouldn't mind failing under similar circumstances.
And this is his company car.....
http://photos.plane-mad.com/9/large/9682.jpg
Yep, failure. Abject failure.
Kevin Milkins
24-Jun-14, 09:30
And this is his company car.....
http://photos.plane-mad.com/9/large/9682.jpg
Yep, failure. Abject failure.
I like the wheels,Phill, was it buy one and get one free?
Nah, 3 for the price of 2.
*cheapest aircraft is free item
2little2late
24-Jun-14, 20:28
Philip Clarke is a failure in the sense that since becoming CEO of Tesco, their sales, profits and shares have dropped. As I said in an earlier post, Tesco had plans to give so many stores a mini refurb and spent millions of pounds on fixtures and fittings only to cancel the whole thing as they were losing trade to cheaper competitors.
I see another top exec has quit Tesco. No confidence in the CEO......
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/top-tesco-executive-quits-ahead-key-agm-134403247.html#I5oDKak
While not anti Tesco's I think this is a disgrace. I would like another supermarket. Advantage of ASDA is their petrol pricing policy, national & not town by town. The supermarket I like best is Sainsbury but I think we are to far north for them.
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jun/26/tesco-hoarding-land-that-could-build-15000-homes-supermarket?CMP=twt_fd
2little2late
27-Jun-14, 22:04
And Asda's prices aren't regionalised either.
I prefer Waitrose and Sainsbury's, you get a better class of shopper in those stores rather than the chavs and losers that frequent ASDA and Tesco. ;-)
I prefer Waitrose and Sainsbury's, you get a better class of shopper in those stores rather than the chavs and losers that frequent ASDA and Tesco. ;-)
oh Jox, how to alienate half the orgers in one little statement.....
oh Jox, how to alienate half the orgers in one little statement..... Gaz- are you suggesting half of the org are chavs and losers?
Gaz- are you suggesting half of the org are chavs and losers?
ah trust you to yet again twist things to suit your own purpose. I merely pointed out that many orgers use Tesco and ASDA, myself included.....
To paraphrase Dennis Skinner, I suggest half the org are not chavs and losers! :-)))
To paraphrase Dennis Skinner, I suggest half the org are not chavs and losers! :-))) Or is one half chavs and the other losers ?
For anyone that might have missed it there's a petition requesting Tesco to tidy up the mart site by planting grass and wildflowers here https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/makeover-our-mart-in-thurso Should we follow this up by asking that they bring back sheepies to the mart? That would refresh the parts that Tesco can't ever hope to reach.
There are now in excess of 1000 signatures on the petition calling on Tesco to turn the mart site into a grassy park with wild flowers. Does this mean the people of Thurso would rather have a park than a Tesco or an Asda at the mart? What would YOU prefer, a park or a Tesco?
Food for thought?
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jul/18/tesco-unlocks-landbank-to-build-4000-new-homes
Food for thought?
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/jul/18/tesco-unlocks-landbank-to-build-4000-new-homes
I'd like to think so, but I doubt there's enough demand for housing in thurso to give tesco the return they would want for the site.
I see the CEO of Tesco, Philip Clarke, has just quit! Plummeting sales amongst a few other reasons were quoted for his departure.
Guess there won't be a new Tesco in Thurso after all.....
did you notice in the sunday newspaper that TESCO are now SELLING land that they were going to build new stores to housing developers, INSTEAD of building the stores, OR they will be building houses on the land themselves!!!Has caithness council got hold of this one ?
2little2late
10-Aug-14, 14:33
I had to laugh at this. Typical of Tesco though.
http://www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/news/local-headlines/tesco-hire-staff-as-shoppers-complain-of-empty-shelves-1-3503368
Heisenberg
13-Aug-14, 19:07
did you notice in the sunday newspaper that TESCO are now SELLING land that they were going to build new stores to housing developers, INSTEAD of building the stores, OR they will be building houses on the land themselves!!!Has caithness council got hold of this one ?I think they have been doing this for many years
What now for the mart site after Tesco's profits and financial reputation have gone into meltdown, so much that the revolving door of senior Tesco management is spinning faster than a politician on an ego trip? The chance of a new build is surely nil for another five years at least. So what to do there? New houses? Different big shoppies in a retail park? A park for the people to walk and sit in? Or to remain an eyesore for another five years while the local politicians continue to bluster or sit on their hands? :(
little miss breezy breeks
25-Oct-14, 11:33
Without a doubt, To remain an eyesore for another five years while the local politicians continue to sit on their hands only taking them out briefly to put their expenses in their pocket. With no chance of a retail park as for some reason the local politicians prefer to see that bit of caithness growth to be on the wick side of the county:confused
I personally wouldn't suggest a retail park at the mart due to its proximity to an attractive residential area and to the high school, not to mention the station and the Miller. I find some attraction in a public park to improve the amenity of the area.
Perhaps some much needed social housing?
Good road and rail links how's about a livestock market.
Good road and rail links how's about a livestock market.
nah, that will never take off, - a livestock market. - indeed! :roll:
then again, you could always build a supermarket. I hear there's a very big company wanting to do that but keep running into planning difficulties.
As another year ends with Tesco's market share dropping and its profits sinking like a stone, what future lies ahead for the long defunct site of the company's grand project? I heard rumours that Tesco would put the mart site up for sale in the autumn but as far as I know nothing happened. I don't forsee anything happening unless the Highland Council steps in. Tesco's financial situation is getting worse http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/09/tesco-share-price-falls-500m-profit-plunge-dave-lewis so a new build is out of the question for the forseeable future. What say our elected councillors on their plan of action? I trust they have one.
"Councillors" + "Plan" + "Action" ....... sorry but those words don't go together ..:(
^^^^^^
Very true. More realistic is Councillors/Back Pocket/Doubles all round/What are we meant to do? :lol:
windymiller
24-Dec-14, 17:59
As another year ends with Tesco's market share dropping and its profits sinking like a stone, what future lies ahead for the long defunct site of the company's grand project? I heard rumours that Tesco would put the mart site up for sale in the autumn but as far as I know nothing happened. I don't forsee anything happening unless the Highland Council steps in. Tesco's financial situation is getting worse http://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/dec/09/tesco-share-price-falls-500m-profit-plunge-dave-lewis so a new build is out of the question for the forseeable future. What say our elected councillors on their plan of action? I trust they have one.
It seems that Tesco are struggling to look after one store in Wick, it is starting to look very shabby from outside. There has been a solar panel missing from the roof since just after it opened and I believe the solar array has been switched off since, the wind terbines were a cheap gimmick merely to pull the wool over the councils eyes, and in any case were no match for the winds of Caithness.
I request a response from Councillor Fernie on the issue of Tesco and the mart site at Thurso. I would demand a response from Councillor Roger Saxon if I had any confidence he would blast out anything other than hot air. Stale hot air. It would nice to hear something from the lovely Councillor John Rosie.
Nick Noble
08-Jan-15, 17:09
I request a response from Councillor Fernie on the issue of Tesco and the mart site at Thurso. I would demand a response from Councillor Roger Saxon if I had any confidence he would blast out anything other than hot air. Stale hot air. It would nice to hear something from the lovely Councillor John Rosie.
Strange how Tesco have not announced that they will not be progressing with the planned store in Thurso.
Perhaps they have forgotten they were supposed to be building one...
Well if you want confirmation of them not building a new store, have a read at this. Wouldn't surprise me if they closed the stores up here either.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/tesco-wades-price-cuts-war-054617235.html#thPhCmO
Well if you want confirmation of them not building a new store, have a read at this. Wouldn't surprise me if they closed the stores up here either.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/tesco-wades-price-cuts-war-054617235.html#thPhCmO
The Wick store will be safe enough. It will be mostly the convenience stores that will be closing. If the Wick one isn't making money then they must be doing something seriously wrong.
Nick Noble
08-Jan-15, 18:22
Well if you want confirmation of them not building a new store, have a read at this. Wouldn't surprise me if they closed the stores up here either.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/tesco-wades-price-cuts-war-054617235.html#thPhCmO
Better reading this, and of the eight new stores they have announced they are not going to build in Scotland none are in Thurso...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-30725122
The Wick store will be safe enough. It will be mostly the convenience stores that will be closing. If the Wick one isn't making money then they must be doing something seriously wrong.
Tesco Wick are way short of their targets...they may be profitable but maybe not enough for the bigwigs. I don't think Wick or Thurso Tesco is safe
Tesco Wick are way short of their targets...they may be profitable but maybe not enough for the bigwigs. I don't think Wick or Thurso Tesco is safe
They will be safe enough in Wick. There is more to keeping a shop open than targets being met. In my experience targets are dreamed up by numpties who believe that business can forever keep expanding and as we have seen in recent years businesses are discovering that this is not the case and you can't just keep throwing credit at people, to enable them to spend more, without there being consequences.
Tesco could make cuts in the least profitable areas of the store but to shut the doors would handing over a sizeable chunk of business on a plate to their competitors in the town and that's surely a last resort unless the excrement is really hitting the fan.
Of course the share price has soared with the news of closures. Where there is misery for some, someone else always profits from it.
That is my Tesco Value 2p worth on it anyway.
Kevin Milkins
08-Jan-15, 23:47
Better reading this, and of the eight new stores they have announced they are not going to build in Scotland none are in Thurso...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-30725122
That's because they never intended building one in Thurso in the first place.
That's because they never intended building one in Thurso in the first place.
Well said Kevin, absolutely spot-on. On top of that, they wouldn't have had a snowballs chance in hell of getting permission to build a huge shop betwen two schools...
Earlhickey
10-Jan-15, 18:03
That's because they never intended building one in Thurso in the first place.
Kevin, I've never understood that logic, If the store their in now didn't become available, i'm sure they would have built one on the mart site.
Kevin Milkins
11-Jan-15, 01:08
My logic Earhikey is that their is no benefit for Tesco to have two stores of the same size in Caithness because it would double the cost to achieve the same level of business.
Its my opinion, and I stated it at the beginning of this thread, that the only reason for Tesco to buy the mart was to keep the opposition out.
Raymond Taylor
11-Jan-15, 12:19
As mentioned in my Hotel story, commenting to the Highland Council and Main Issues Report (Present stage of local plan review) is the tool we can all use to try to determine what happens in and around the town from housing sites to retail. The next local plan could be in place for 20 years possibly 30.
The present local plan review has now been on going for four years and will not be complete for another 18 months at least. Have your say now or never especially if your my age. If you want the Mart site debacle sorted out for instance click on the link in my hotel story and ask the Highland Council to allocate another retail site, that would sort out the Tesco debacle for a start.The same can be done for anything you think the town requires and you don't need to specify a preferred site at this stage.
30 years is a long time and we need a flexible plan so the town can grow when and if required. As owner of Pennyland Farm I have been involved in this process from the outset. I am asking the Highland Council in my final comments before the 29th Jan deadline to allocate sites for Hotel, chalets, large and small retail, housing, business, tourism, leisure, forestry and a public park, most of which I could deliver to the town if the land is allocated. When I was in Wick the other day to speak to the Groat I was informed the Wick side is looking forward to a boom and Thurso was seen as the poor relation. This is the first time I have ever heard this and it worries me.
I cannot say I can deliver all the above in the short term as the planning process is so laborious, there is no short term when planning legislation is involved. What I will say though is this, if public opinion gets behind any of the above it is easier for a developer to deliver. If a site is allocated in the local plan it saves months if not years to any project. In fact I know from experience that if it is not in the local plan it is almost impossible to deliver.None of us can tell where the town will be in 10 or 20 years time and I hate the doom and gloom around.
For years I have put up with objectors telling me we don't need this and we don't need that. This will never happen etc etc. If they think it will never happen or it is not needed why would they be objecting it would not get built. Banks and investors are not stupid. If sound business plans and projections are not in place for any development in this day and age you have not a chance to find investment or raise the cash.
If a local plan is put in place that is fit for purpose then a least we have a chance. Who knows what will happen over the lifetime of the next local plan, maybe Thurso will boom. Let's put as flexible one in place just in case the doom and gloom merchants are wrong. I promise then to do my bit to attract much needed investment to the town.
Regards
Raymond
Raymond Taylor
13-Jan-15, 09:59
Morning Folks! I will be in Caithness Horizons today from 3pm-8pm with larger plans where more detail can be seen of the hotel etc and forestry proposals. Also there to answer any questions or concerns you may have.
Welcome to the Org Raymond!
If you want the Mart site debacle sorted out for instance click on the link in my hotel story and ask the Highland Council to allocate another retail site, that would sort out the Tesco debacle for a start.The same can be done for anything you think the town requires and you don't need to specify a preferred site at this stage. What do you mean by the Council allocating another retail site sorting out the Tesco debacle? Do you mean a different site for a different supermarket chain? That wouldn't solve the problem of the mart site and anyway which company would want to invest in a new Thurso site now that Lidl have invested in such a major expansion next door to you? Do you still see the possibility of an Asda or some other supermarket on the site at Pennyland that Asda were refused permission to build on?
Raymond Taylor
18-Jan-15, 18:45
The new local plan will be in place for over 20 years, who knows what will happen in the future. The Highland Council allocating another retail site will send the right message to the Mart owners and give Thurso some flexibility and choice over the lifetime of the new plan.
Raymond Taylor
18-Jan-15, 18:55
Thanks for the welcome Crayola, missed that. There is much interest in Thurso waiting for all sorts of land to be allocated in the next local plan. I can say no more than that at this time for a number of reasons. I have nailed my colours to the mast regarding the hotel project for a start.
As long as 95% of highland Councillors have shares in Tesco , they will not do any stepping in on this site, ..if it was a council that really cares for its residents , they should come in with a compulsory purchase of the land and let it made available to anyone including ASDA, who will have no chance of Tesco selling it to them
Thanks for the welcome Crayola, missed that. There is much interest in Thurso waiting for all sorts of land to be allocated in the next local plan. I can say no more than that at this time for a number of reasons. I have nailed my colours to the mast regarding the hotel project for a start.Thank you for your thank you. ;) Ok I have more questions for you. How high is your proposed hotel relative to the Weigh Inn? You propose 7m, how high is the Weigh Inn? And why don't you propose the hotel in the field next to your B&B near where Asda was to be? I ask because I regard the view of the firth when travelling down Castlegreen Road to be one of the finest in the world and I don't want it to be spoiled by the sight of a hotel directly in front of anyone journeying down that road. Your 'Tesco bashing' big retail, be it Asda or any other, can go next to BT where it should have been proposed in the first place. :D
Raymond Taylor
22-Jan-15, 04:29
Thank you for your thank you. ;) Ok I have more questions for you. How high is your proposed hotel relative to the Weigh Inn? You propose 7m, how high is the Weigh Inn? And why don't you propose the hotel in the field next to your B&B near where Asda was to be? I ask because I regard the view of the firth when travelling down Castlegreen Road to be one of the finest in the world and I don't want it to be spoiled by the sight of a hotel directly in front of anyone journeying down that road. Your 'Tesco bashing' big retail, be it Asda or any other, can go next to BT where it should have been proposed in the first place. :D
I refer to the sticky on the hotel project which I started. The link on the first thread needs to be read and then the other threads where I answer some queries including the ones you mentioned above.
I also want to direct hotel site debate over to that thread as only 6 days to go for public comment to Highland Council.
On the siting of big retail they would not build out by BT. Not sure I was Tesco bashing but know for a fact the Mart site has cost Thurso 60 jobs since the ASDA decision was turned over several years ago.
I refer to the sticky on the hotel project which I started. The link on the first thread needs to be read and then the other threads where I answer some queries including the ones you mentioned above.I also want to direct hotel site debate over to that thread as only 6 days to go for public comment to Highland Council.On the siting of big retail they would not build out by BT. Not sure I was Tesco bashing but know for a fact the Mart site has cost Thurso 60 jobs since the ASDA decision was turned over several years ago.What a lazy sloppy response. Your dismissive attitude is unlikely to garner support. Please answer the question, how high is the Weigh Inn? And don't you try to direct me to your thread Raymond sweetie. You haven't answered my questions here, there or on your link from your thread. Are you still stamping your feet because Asda weren't allowed to build in your back yard? You won't get my support unless you climb down from that high horse and demonstrate some community spirit. :p
Raymond Taylor
22-Jan-15, 19:56
What a lazy sloppy response. Your dismissive attitude is unlikely to garner support. Please answer the question, how high is the Weigh Inn? And don't you try to direct me to your thread Raymond sweetie. You haven't answered my questions here, there or on your link from your thread. Are you still stamping your feet because Asda weren't allowed to build in your back yard? You won't get my support unless you climb down from that high horse and demonstrate some community spirit. :p
I have been called a lot of things but sloppy and dismissive never before. I have spent days on here and Facebook answering questions and numerous private messages in a pleasant and professional manner.
You seem to be a professional Orger maybe you have time to answer questions twice. I refer to my previous email once again about the other thread. The only question you will not find the answer to on there is the height of the Weigh Inn.
As at present I am in the UAE on holiday maybe you should direct your question to Mr Arif. If he can't provide the answer I promise on my return to get a set of ladders and a tape measure and help you out.
Your continued intransigence encouraged me to go to the Highland Council website and read a large number of documents on plans for the future of Thurso. It seems to me that those plans don't fit in with what you want so you're trying to get as many people to support your position without informing them about the wider picture. I can now say categorically that I do not support your proposal. See, you might have pulled the wool over my eyes if you'd cooperated and answered my questions. It's nice to be nice and you should have been nice to me in the first place. Now tell me sweetie, do you still want to build an Asda next to Pennyland Farm?
Raymond Taylor
23-Jan-15, 02:12
Your continued intransigence encouraged me to go to the Highland Council website and read a large number of documents on plans for the future of Thurso. It seems to me that those plans don't fit in with what you want so you're trying to get as many people to support your position without informing them about the wider picture. I can now say categorically that I do not support your proposal. See, you might have pulled the wool over my eyes if you'd cooperated and answered my questions. It's nice to be nice and you should have been nice to me in the first place. Now tell me sweetie, do you still want to build an Asda next to Pennyland Farm?
Only reading the papers now after commenting to me like you did seems fair. Glad to see you were up to speed and had all the facts.
On the hotel thread (comment 33) as referred to for a third time I answer the point you mention above. And again the only point I did not answer in your original questions to me was the height of the Weigh Inn, which if you read between the lines I don't know.
Your cheap shot jibes are now beginning to annoy and I don't think I deserve them. You my friend whoever you are have been talking about the Asda/Mart situation for 66 months. I have been doing so on here for a week or two. If I knew who you were? I could make the call if you ever do more than talk what you think is a good game, as you do lot of talking.
To answer your last question, I was one vote from delivering an ASDA to the town several years ago and the reason I came on this thread was to see if people wanted me to try again by supporting retail in the present local plan review, and this is something I cover in both the hotel and ASDA threads.
I ask everyone including yourself to read the threads, press reports and the Main Issues Report and make an informed choice on all the development types referred to and comment to Highland Council before 29th January which is public comment deadline day. I can only deliver specific developments if the land is allocated in the next local plan.
To summarise, you want to spoil the view by building an Asda or similar in the field next to Pennyland Farm. But why would Asda or whoever want to build a new supermarket right next to the big brand new Lidl? You also want to build on the land next to Victoria Walk in order to spoil one of the finest views in the world. You don't know how high your proposed hotel is compared with the Weigh Inn so you don't know how much worse your hotel might look compared to the Weigh Inn. This is land that will be a designated 'green belt' in the next council plan unless you can pull the wool over the eyes of the people of Thurso and convince them you're doing them a favour. I recommend that the people of Thurso should look at the Council's proposals for the expansion of Thurso to the west of the town. Raymond is proposing to spoil the finest vista by building a large hotel and a large number of chalets and a lot of retail outlets on the very last green fields in that area according to the planners' recommendations. I do not support that.
Crayola, I don't suppose you are old enough to remember what was on that site from 1940 to approx 1949/50. I do. It was a big collection of Nissan huts , a transit camp for the military traveling across to Orkney from the south and vice versa. No one bothered about the view then. I see no problem on any buildings being built , as for the Victoria Walk, how much of the original Walk is still there? How much disappeared with the houses that were built at Burnside?
Raymond Taylor
27-Jan-15, 06:48
To summarise, you want to spoil the view by building an Asda or similar in the field next to Pennyland Farm. But why would Asda or whoever want to build a new supermarket right next to the big brand new Lidl? You also want to build on the land next to Victoria Walk in order to spoil one of the finest views in the world. You don't know how high your proposed hotel is compared with the Weigh Inn so you don't know how much worse your hotel might look compared to the Weigh Inn. This is land that will be a designated 'green belt' in the next council plan unless you can pull the wool over the eyes of the people of Thurso and convince them you're doing them a favour. I recommend that the people of Thurso should look at the Council's proposals for the expansion of Thurso to the west of the town. Raymond is proposing to spoil the finest vista by building a large hotel and a large number of chalets and a lot of retail outlets on the very last green fields in that area according to the planners' recommendations. I do not support that.
It's a democracy and everyone is entitled to an opinion so I feel I have to answer.
So what you are saying regarding the hotel is - the Highland Council planners will have a couple of years off and will allow me and world renowned architects John Thompson and Partners to design a hotel that will block out the sun without them noticing. If I am lucky enough to get the land allocated for tourism by them in the first place. Not a carefully designed 7m tall building with a flat green roof as per our widely distributed plan.
We will also be allowed to build a "large" number of chalets not six or seven units again as per my plan. Which will be no taller than the mausoleum which is hardly noticeable. The park of course will now be much smaller than the promised 19 acres because of the dozens of chalets built and I will sneakily turn what's left into a minefield and put barbed wire round it to sort the townsfolk out good and proper. I suppose you also think the proposed bandstand will actually be a place to sacrifice goats.
On to ASDA or any retailer for that matter - the almost 3000 people who signed the petition for an ASDA at Pennyland have all changed their minds, not one of these people now want a job, consumer choice or the national price for fuel over the next 20-30 years, the life of the next local plan. Remembering if a retail site is not included in the plan it will probably not happen during its lifetime.
That goes with the business, technology, housing and other land I am looking to get allocated. I have users waiting in the wings interested in each of these.
Sequential testing proves Pennyland next to the Mart site is the place to build for the good of the town and this is fact.
Towns elsewhere are bending over backwards to attract inward investment and get fit for the future. We need a local plan that beats them all and that will be one of the key themes to my final submission to planners. Scrabster is doing its bit and we need the infrastructure to support this if Thurso is to have any chance to stop its decline.
Anything we develop wherever it is will be done with taste and consideration to the people of Thurso if of course the land is allocated.
My hotel plans are public knowledge and the sizes are in the brief I wrote. People aren't stupid and your scaremongering agenda is obvious.
Two days now to deadline day.
Bystander1
27-Jan-15, 07:33
Now, now Raymond Taylor, go easy with the common sense posts. You will have Creamola foaming and casting bad spells on all who transgress.
It's a democracy and everyone is entitled to an opinion so I feel I have to answer.
So what you are saying regarding the hotel is - the Highland Council planners will have a couple of years off and will allow me and world renowned architects John Thompson and Partners to design a hotel that will block out the sun without them noticing. If I am lucky enough to get the land allocated for tourism by them in the first place. Not a carefully designed 7m tall building with a flat green roof as per our widely distributed plan.
We will also be allowed to build a "large" number of chalets not six or seven units again as per my plan. Which will be no taller than the mausoleum which is hardly noticeable. The park of course will now be much smaller than the promised 19 acres because of the dozens of chalets built and I will sneakily turn what's left into a minefield and put barbed wire round it to sort the townsfolk out good and proper. I suppose you also think the proposed bandstand will actually be a place to sacrifice goats.
On to ASDA or any retailer for that matter - the almost 3000 people who signed the petition for an ASDA at Pennyland have all changed their minds, not one of these people now want a job, consumer choice or the national price for fuel over the next 20-30 years, the life of the next local plan. Remembering if a retail site is not included in the plan it will probably not happen during its lifetime.
That goes with the business, technology, housing and other land I am looking to get allocated. I have users waiting in the wings interested in each of these.
Sequential testing proves Pennyland next to the Mart site is the place to build for the good of the town and this is fact.
Towns elsewhere are bending over backwards to attract inward investment and get fit for the future. We need a local plan that beats them all and that will be one of the key themes to my final submission to planners. Scrabster is doing its bit and we need the infrastructure to support this if Thurso is to have any chance to stop its decline.
Anything we develop wherever it is will be done with taste and consideration to the people of Thurso if of course the land is allocated.
My hotel plans are public knowledge and the sizes are in the brief I wrote. People aren't stupid and your scaremongering agenda is obvious.
Two days now to deadline day....I am all for progress and i totally agree with you...Bring on any developments that bring Thurso more up to date with competition , that is sorely needed against Tesco"s land banking at the mart site.....Are the council going to make Tesco sell the land or will they have the bottle to make a compulsory purchase order off them..going off how lenient they have been with Tesco and let them take the P.ss i somehow do not think so.
Moonboots
29-Jan-15, 08:05
Here is a quote from another site where they are debating the closures of their stores.
"Fourteen years ago Tesco bought a very large site in Wolverhampton and promised every year the new store will be started every next spring, but now 6 small shops have been opened the large store will never be built and the very big site could well be left an other ten year but it does look a mess, an empty hospital,the nurse's home, a bus garage,two closed roads, Tesco have lied and it looks their lies are chocking their self"
Now as you can see, they have been doing this all over the place which we all know so why has nothing been done about this yet...
2little2late
30-Jan-15, 18:25
As long as 95% of highland Councillors have shares in Tesco , they will not do any stepping in on this site, ..if it was a council that really cares for its residents , they should come in with a compulsory purchase of the land and let it made available to anyone including ASDA, who will have no chance of Tesco selling it to them
They'll all be kicking themselves now with Tesco share price falling dramatically. Serves them right.
Crayola, I don't suppose you are old enough to remember what was on that site from 1940 to approx 1949/50. I do. It was a big collection of Nissan huts , a transit camp for the military traveling across to Orkney from the south and vice versa. No one bothered about the view then. I see no problem on any buildings being built , as for the Victoria Walk, how much of the original Walk is still there? How much disappeared with the houses that were built at Burnside?Ha ha Golly sweetie, I definitely wasn't on this Earth back in those days. :D The difference is that a nissen hut is only 3 metres high whereas Raymond's 7 metre high hotel would be more than twice as high as a nissen hut which would block out the sun as he admitted in his post. His plan to surround his hotel and chalets with barbed wire would spoil the amenity further. :( Meanwhile Tesco the company sadly sinks deeper and deeper into the industrial mire. :(
Perambulate
08-Jun-15, 12:37
is this hotel getting e go ahead?
Raymond Taylor
08-Jun-15, 14:57
Some positive noises coming from Highland Council in their recommendations which have since been debated and passed by the Caithness and Sutherland committee. The lack of a retail allocation was noted by the members.
My view on the retail point is we can no longer be held to ransom by the owners of the Mart site and the live retail allocation that site has. It's pretty simple to solve that problem...allocate another site even if it never gets built on during the new plans lifetime.
So, still a bit to go but I have to say it looks very promising. It could still all get hijacked as it did 20 years ago in Inverness. I await comment from the officials who have done a great job in their recommendations. They have taken onboard the Charrette outcome and the views of the majority of local people interested in a buoyant/diverse future for the town. They realise tourism and diversification play a key roll and these points are the basis for much of the CASplan outcomes throughout all the communities in Caithness and Sutherland.
I can push on if these recommendations get through the Inverness vote in August this year.
Link to recommendations -
http://www.highland.gov.uk/download/meetings/id/68174/item_4_caithness_and_sutherland_local_development_ plan
Raymond, Do you mean that Caithness and Sutherland committee have approved the hotel or the re-designation of the site to something else apart from a supermarket. If so, this is this is the first I have heard of it.
When there was a thread on the hotel complex on here I thought that the majority of people were against having the hotel as it would spoil the view to the Orkneys or is this a totally different hotel & I am talking rubbish (not unknown).
this is the first I have heard of it.
You haven't been keeping your ear to the railway.
When there was a thread on the hotel complex on here I thought that the majority of people were against having the hotel as it would spoil the view to the Orkneys or is this a totally different hotel & I am talking rubbish (not unknown).[/COLOR]
A majority of unemployables living with their mum, on a thread here isn't a majority of people.
Raymond Taylor
09-Jun-15, 10:05
Raymond, Do you mean that Caithness and Sutherland committee have approved the hotel or the re-designation of the site to something else apart from a supermarket. If so, this is this is the first I have heard of it.When there was a thread on the hotel complex on here I thought that the majority of people were against having the hotel as it would spoil the view to the Orkneys or is this a totally different hotel & I am talking rubbish (not unknown).
No, the Caithness and Sutherland committee have sanctioned the Highland Council planning officials recommendations as per the link provided. These recommendations are in line with the Charrettee outcome and the Main Issues Report referred to earlier here and the hotel thread.
I have to say I think you are wrong when you say the majority of people were against the hotel project which is just a small part of the overall plan.
It's 6 years now since I started this thread. Initially people blamed Tesco's land banking for the impasse at the mart site. Then Highland Council's failure to do anything about Tesco's inactivity earned the wrath of the town. Others including me blamed Asda for not having a Plan B to fall back on when their Plan A failed. More recently it became apparent that Raymond Taylor was and continues to be more intimately tied up up with the entire issue than I had initially realised. Do you have anything to say on the sixth anniversary of this thread Mr Taylor?
I hear rumours that Tesco have sold the land at the mart. Can anyone confirm or refute?
It's 6 years now since I started this thread. Initially people blamed Tesco's land banking for the impasse at the mart site. Then Highland Council's failure to do anything about Tesco's inactivity earned the wrath of the town. Others including me blamed Asda for not having a Plan B to fall back on when their Plan A failed. More recently it became apparent that Raymond Taylor was and continues to be more intimately tied up up with the entire issue than I had initially realised. Do you have anything to say on the sixth anniversary of this thread Mr Taylor?
What's that mean?
I hear rumours that Tesco have sold the land at the mart. Can anyone confirm or refute?
It was in the Groat yesterday that councillors Mackay and Saxon though the site had been sold but didn't know who to.
Gleeber sweetie, it's Mr Taylor's duty to answer your question. Maybe he's bought the land at the mart himself. :) Thank you anyway for answering my question, I don't look at the Groat much these days. We shall have to wait and see how it all pans out eventually, maybe in another six years. :(
Gleeber sweetie, it's Mr Taylor's duty to answer your question.
I remember when babbling on forums was voluntary.
Raymond Taylor
22-Jun-15, 19:32
Gleeber sweetie, it's Mr Taylor's duty to answer your question. Maybe he's bought the land at the mart himself. :) Thank you anyway for answering my question, I don't look at the Groat much these days. We shall have to wait and see how it all pans out eventually, maybe in another six years. :(Is it really my duty to keep answering drivel?
I thought that the majority of people were against having the hotel as it would spoil the view to the Orkneys
You have no claim on a view, unless you purchase the land!!
Wo's buying the mart then?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34528959
"Tesco sells mothballed supermarket sites for £250m"
Bobinovich
18-Oct-15, 15:42
Thurso site was bought earlier this year as part of a package of vacant Tesco-owned sites (http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/Tesco-sells-former-auction-mart-site-in-Thurso-14082015.htm) - as always we'll just have to wait & see what happens next...
Thurso site was bought earlier this year as part of a package of vacant Tesco-owned sites (http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/Tesco-sells-former-auction-mart-site-in-Thurso-14082015.htm) - as always we'll just have to wait & see what happens next...
As always we will have a Long, Long, Long Wait before we get any news at all, :(
I'm a little behind with the news due to a long deep space mission flying amongst the rings of Uranus and mapping them for posterity. Meanwhile the Groat published this little gem.
ONE of Tesco’s exit strategies from its abortive plans to develop a new superstore in Thurso was to sell a pile of girders to Highland Council.
The £40,000 deal was done in 2010 for the steelwork which was earmarked for use on their development at the former auction mart site in the town.
Are we to understand that Tesco sold girders it had bought to use to build on the mart to the council 5 long years ago? Yet for much of that time they were telling us that construction would start soon? Have the council been dancing in secret on Tesco's grave for 5 years?
little miss breezy breeks
08-Nov-15, 13:59
I'm a little behind with the news due to a long deep space mission flying amongst the rings of Uranus and mapping them for posterity. Meanwhile the Groat published this little gem.
Are we to understand that Tesco sold girders it had bought to use to build on the mart to the council 5 long years ago? Yet for much of that time they were telling us that construction would start soon? Have the council been dancing in secret on Tesco's grave for 5 years?
Wasn't the girders the old frame from the old auction mart, Which the council bought to erect up at janetstown to use as a salt store only to find it was to small :lol:
rogermellie
08-Nov-15, 15:20
Wasn't the girders the old frame from the old auction mart, Which the council bought to erect up at janetstown to use as a salt store only to find it was to small :lol:
how could it have been too small ?
salts tiny :confused
little miss breezy breeks
08-Nov-15, 17:32
how could it have been too small ?
salts tiny :confused
The salt may be tiny, But the lorrys the salt needs to put in aren't? The mart structure wasn't that tall, Didn't need to be.
wavy davy
09-Nov-15, 00:54
I'm a little behind with the news due to a long deep space mission flying amongst the rings of Uranus and mapping them for posterity. Meanwhile the Groat published this little gem.
Are we to understand that Tesco sold girders it had bought to use to build on the mart to the council 5 long years ago? Yet for much of that time they were telling us that construction would start soon? Have the council been dancing in secret on Tesco's grave for 5 years?
Well said Crayola. I read about it and didn't take it in.
Now, did the Council approach Tesco to buy the steel (unlikely?) or the other way round (more likely?). If the latter, I'd love to know how the initial conversation went.
Contributions, factual or otherwise, welcomed.
My reading of the Groat article is that in 2010 Tesco sold girders originally intended for the new build at the mart. Is that wrong? Or were these girders from the old mart buildings that were never intended for the new build? Someone must know for sure.
Anyways......... What will become of the mart site now? My guess is that it will lie derelict for another five years and we will all continue to moan and blame Tesco and Highland Council and the current new owners and whoever they may sell the site on to. I am not optimistic. :(
Here is the link btw http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/News/-29102015Every-little-helps-as-Tesco-offloads-steel-to-council.htm
Are Tesco still planning to sell their existing Thurso store at Millbank? The For Sale advertisement is still on the internet.
http://www.eyco.co.uk/cog-media/property/34/34502/CR_HS_34502_Millbank_Road_Thurso_brochure_2.pdf
Could Thurso end up with no Tesco at all as the result of the mart fiasco? Or is the advertisement a legacy that no-one got around to removing?
And are Asda still out of the game completely? Or is Raymond still hoping to entice them into his back yard?
Are Tesco still planning to sell their existing Thurso store at Millbank? The For Sale advertisement is still on the internet.
http://www.eyco.co.uk/cog-media/property/34/34502/CR_HS_34502_Millbank_Road_Thurso_brochure_2.pdf
Could Thurso end up with no Tesco at all as the result of the mart fiasco? Or is the advertisement a legacy that no-one got around to removing?
And are Asda still out of the game completely? Or is Raymond still hoping to entice them into his back yard?
Give them a call, request a viewing, see what they say.
Aaldtimer
18-Dec-15, 16:37
Something happening at last? :- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-35133032
rob murray
18-Dec-15, 16:54
Sounds like good news / jobs : London & Scottish Investments Ltd (LSI), a Glasgow-based investment, development, and property asset management company, has today announced a deal to purchase a package of 14 vacant sites from Tesco. The sites are located across Scotland and will be developed by LSI for a mix of retail and residential uses.
The sites are located in East Kilbride, Paisley (Renfrew Road and Love Street), Crieff, Aviemore, Cupar, Cowdenbeath, Thurso, Dundee, Kilmarnock, Larkhall, Coatbridge, Dalkeith, and Glasgow. They had previously been acquired by Tesco for potential store development which has not progressed as planned.
Bryan Wilson, Group Development Director at London & Scottish Investments said: “We are delighted to announce this purchase, which is fantastic news for the towns involved. We now look forward to meeting with council leaders and planning officers from all the local authorities involved, to discuss and review our plans for the economic redevelopment of these sites. We have had discussions with a range of potential tenants that wish to occupy the proposed new developments, and we would expect that a significant number of jobs will be created as a result.”
Something happening at last? :- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-35133032
Well spotted Aaldtimer. :)
They're planning similar things in Fife:
Plans submitted for two new shopping centres in Fife
A property developer has submitted plans for new shopping centres at two sites vacated by Tesco in Fife.
Glasgow-based London and Scottish Investments (LSI) wants to build food and non-food units at South Road, Cupar, and High Street, Cowdenbeath.
The vacant sites were acquired by LSI from Tesco in August, after the supermarket giant dropped plans for new stores.
LSI said it expected the developments to create hundreds of new jobs.
The new Cupar development will comprise five retail units totalling 41,500 sq ft.
The Cowdenbeath proposals involve two units totalling 48,000 sq ft.
LSI group development director Bryan Wilson said: "The economic redevelopment of these vacant sites will be fantastic news for Fife as we expect hundreds of new jobs to be created as a result.
"We are now in advanced discussions with a number of food and non-food retailers to occupy these developments and hope to be able to announce these in the near future.
"Subject to receiving all necessary consents, we intend to start construction work on site immediately".
This is according to the BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-35131379
I wonder who will get the planned food retail outlets. Could we see Asda dancing on Tesco's grave at the mart in Thurso? :D
Stack Rock
18-Dec-15, 17:32
The planning application details including drawings are on the Council website.
15/04656/FUL | Erection of Class 1 retail stores and garden centre with ancillary access, car parking, servicing and associated works including retention, with new car parking area for Thurso station | Thurso Auction Mart Ormlie Road Thurso
Thanks Mr Rock. :)
I read the proposal and looked at the plans on the Highland Council website. It all looks sensible to me. It doesn't mention any supermarket by name. So could it be Asda or could it be some other supermarket coming in through the back door? Surely not Tesco! ;)
Could this be the real thing for Thurso at long last?
Being in sackcloth and ashes for a few years - after being promised (April 2008) in a phone call and emails from Doug Wilson, Corporate Affairs Manager, Scotland and Northern Ireland (Tesco) that Tesco WAS building there, it all went pear-shaped by financial restrictions, and restructuring within the group.. which is all history..
I've just noticed that Doug has left Tesco and is now Head of Property Communications at ASDA wonder if he will be the sacrificial lame on any ASDA dealings?
Anyway looks like AT LAST 'something' is being built there which is good, and wonder if any Hotel will ever be built at Pennyland?
[NB Taken advice and inbox emptied!]
I hope it will be asda, natal an and farm foods
Good grief Fran! This is not the time to expose such a dismal proletarian failure of aspiration on the good people of my home town! This is an opportunity for the people of Thurso to grasp the nettle and to aspire to acquire retail facilities that have up until now only appeared in their most prurient dreams. Come now all ye faithful,come together and rise above the dismal expectation of the most pessimistic of Winston Smith's fellow proles in their pursuit of natal an's Mao-era style and quality and Farm Food's suffocatingly tasteless copies of cardboard flavoured Apollo-era frozen rations. Fire up your broomsticks and rekindle the ambition and expectation of the Thurso of our common hyperborean forebears of half a century ago. Thurso, you are better than this! We are all better than this. Stand up and fight for a better retail future.
Oh my Thurso people. One and all.
Just do it!
Now! One and all of you! :D
rogermellie
27-Dec-15, 10:58
Good grief Fran! This is not the time to expose such a dismal proletarian failure of aspiration on the good people of my home town! This is an opportunity for the people of Thurso to grasp the nettle and to aspire to acquire retail facilities that have up until now only appeared in their most prurient dreams. Come now all ye faithful,come together and rise above the dismal expectation of the most pessimistic of Winston Smith's fellow proles in their pursuit of natal an's Mao-era style and quality and Farm Food's suffocatingly tasteless copies of cardboard flavoured Apollo-era frozen rations. Fire up your broomsticks and rekindle the ambition and expectation of the Thurso of our common hyperborean forebears of half a century ago. Thurso, you are better than this! We are all better than this. Stand up and fight for a better retail future.
Oh my Thurso people. One and all.
Just do it!
Now! One and all of you! :D
couldn't agree more, however, Fran's from Wick
Looking forward to something new.
I know stack rock above mentioned it, but here's links:
https://www.tellmescotland.gov.uk/notices/highland/planning/00000115614/
http://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/simpleSearchResults.do?action=firstPage
15/04656/FUL | Erection of Class 1 retail stores and garden centre with ancillary access, car parking, servicing and associated works including retention, with new car parking area for Thurso station | Thurso Auction Mart Ormlie Road Thurso
Bobinovich
28-Dec-15, 19:25
Checking out the plans there's 2 units, both around 20000 sq ft which makes them about the same size as the current Thurso Tesco. about 2/3 the size of Tain Asda, and only 2/5 the size of Wick Tesco. There's also no mention/indication of fuel pumps and, interestingly, a large swathe of land between the proposed site area and the High School site not included within said plans.
With Thurso population significantly higher than (around double) that of Tain I personally can't see Asda bothering opening a smaller store - they'd surely want to try & compete with Wick Tesco to keep / draw folk to the new store, and that would require as big & include fuel pumps IMHO. Unfortunately there's also no provision to improve the current 6-way junction which causes me and many other folk a lot of concern and consternation.
If it is to be a supermarket then the most logical one is Aldi. They are expanding all around the UK. As you say too small for ASDA, Morrisons too who are closing stores.
I really would like to see an "ICELAND" opening in Thurso.
If it is to be a supermarket then the most logical one is Aldi. They are expanding all around the UK. As you say too small for ASDA, Morrisons too who are closing stores.
9 years ago just that thought was on the Org: http://forum.caithness.org/showthread.php?17768-ALDI-for-Thurso be nice if it happened..
Waitrose gets my vote
Would be nice but none passed Sterling, so no chance.
Aldi has just announced 8 new stores in Scotland in 2016, so still my bet.
Just had a look at ALDI requirements for new sites:
https://corporate.aldi.co.uk/en/property/requirement-towns/
"We have an ambitious UK investment and development programme, which means that we are always looking for sites with a catchment population in excess of 10,000 and ideally situated on principal roads with prominent road frontage."
10,000? Hmm might be bit of a stumbling block Although Thurso has 7,933 population (I'd come in from 'Out west')! But Dingwall is on their list for potential sites...
cazmanian_minx
29-Dec-15, 23:05
I would think the catchment area for Thurso would be over 10,000 - it would include Halkirk and Reay for starters, plus a lot of the villages further west.
2little2late
01-Jan-16, 01:08
No Aldi for Thurso. Never mind, maybe next time. :) https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/business/scotland-business/792059/aldi-sets-next-phase-scottish-expansion/
Retail unit with a garden centre, hmmm, sounds like Homebase
Homebase already in Wick & closing stores left right & centre. Large rumours wick will close
Homebase already in Wick & closing stores left right & centre. Large rumours wick will close
Homebase are not going to build another store 21 miles away from one already. perhaps B & Q or maybe Wickes or Dobbies ? Don't quite know how all these outlets are going to survive in a small catchment area myself
i thought dobbies is part of the tesco chain
Scry as I may, I find it hard to forsee a good outcome when you the people have such lowly desires and expectations. No-one can truly desire Farmfoods or Iceland or natal an. It isn't humanly possible to set your vision so low unless you have given up on ambition. The one man with the courage to dream of Waitrose has his dreams shattered in an instant of public dismissal. How sad.
I was reminded of my own career setbacks whilst watching one of my favourite films on tv tonight. Elle Woods believed in herself in Legally Blonde. She succeeded at Harvard Law school despite the whole world seeing her as a dumb blonde sorority girl with nothing but air between her ears and Prada shoes on her feet. I had similar problems getting into the country' top universities because of how I looked and what I had started doing for a living.
But I believed in myself and I didn't give up and I got both my degrees with the highest grades. You the people of Thurso must do the same. Don't look down at your feet and settle for natal an or Farmfoods. Tell the developers what you really want.
Do it!
All of you!
Now!
cazmanian_minx
04-Jan-16, 10:04
I have to say, I'd love a Waitrose or M&S Simply Food, but thought I'd get shot down in flames!
I'm just happy there seems to be progress. It's being an eyesore for too long.
What's needed there ia a "SoDoSoPa".....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miXMWJyOdgw
i once pack frozen veg for waitrose saniburys tesco and nisa also the frozen vef was used by ms and they all come off the same conveyor belt just packed in different packaging so why pay over the odds for the same food just because the shop has a better name i say iceland or farm foods should come that the local wage packet will be better spent after all many are on the minimum wage up here where every penny counts
crayola (http://forum.caithness.org/member.php?1102-crayola), It's not low expectations just basic economics. Caithness has a very small population therefore the majors won't come here to make losses.
http://wam.highland.gov.uk/wam/files/9FB42DA6D76AC9CE98252345966CA492/pdf/15_04656_FUL-UNIT_1_-_ELEVATION_PLAN_A1-935462.pdf
hope this link works plans for the shop at high school end looks a lot like Aldi
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