Plans for Tesco Express store in Newmarket High Street welcomed as a ‘boost’ for town

Plans for a new Tesco Express store in Newmarket High Street have been hailed as a boost for the town.

A licence application has been lodged for the premise at 84-86 High Street with West Suffolk Council, the licensing authority, and a spokesman for Tesco confirmed it was working on plans for the new store and that it would keep the community updated as they progressed.

The licence application is to sell alcohol at the new store seven days a week, from 6am until midnight. Town councillors will have the opportunity to make their comments on the application when it comes before them at their planning meeting on Monday.

Newmarket BID manager Natalie Robinson said the new store would provide a boost for the town.

“We would welcome this new Tesco Express to Newmarket High Street,” she said. “It will offer our community quick access to everyday essentials in a convenient location, making life just a little bit easier for everyone. It’s always exciting to see new businesses contribute to the vibrancy of our town"

The building where Tesco plans to open its new convenience branch was, until recently, occupied by the YMCA charity shop.

Back in April 2014, Tesco had announced plans to turn the shop into one of its Express stores. The company put forward detailed proposals to the planning authority but, with downturn in the retail market, the planned store was one of those that lost out as part of the company’s cutbacks, meaning the plans never came to fruition. A year later, in February 2015, the building was sold for £1.4million.

Previous tenants include W H Smith, which ran a branch there from 1986 until 2013, when it moved just along the High Street to number 80. In early 2016 the Wakefield-based clothing retailer Bonmarché opened a new branch there.

Back in 1872, part of the premises was used by George Simpson to print the very first editions of the Newmarket Journal.

Representations on the premises licence application should be made to West Suffolk Council by November 8.

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