Further to our post of January below a contributor reports:
Rachel Blake, Labour councillor, Bow East, is pursuing finding out when and if Tesco really will be opening at Gladstone Place.
She has just been told by Circle 33 that the long awaited opening is now planned for September 2015 and fitting it out will be starting soon. This could just be further stalling tactics I suspect.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
Post Jan 15th, 2015
It is if you are keen to see a Tesco store come to Gladstone Place off the Roman.
With all the current publicity about Tesco’s financial problems with the closing of some of its stores, local people were beginning to doubt previous reassurances that a Tesco Metro was destined for the Roman.
But Tesco’s has assured your local councillors that that is not the case, here is their letter:
Dear Councillors
I wanted to write to update you on our planned new Metro store in Gladstone Place, Bow.
As you will have read in the media, our performance as a business has fallen significantly short of where we would want it to be. As a result the financial resources we have available for new investment are severely constrained and we have had to critically review all current and future investment decisions.
Our absolute imperative has to be to protect the future of our business for the c.300,000 colleagues we employ in communities all over the UK. In recent weeks we have had to face up to some very tough decisions which affect many hard-working people. We don’t do that lightly and so it is with a heavy heart that we are announcing today that we are unable to proceed with 49 new planned store developments across the country.
I am conscious that you may see this news and be concerned about the future of our plans in Bow. However, I would like to reassure you that it remains our intention to open our planned store. We continue to believe that the store would provide a valued service to the local community and we know that many people are keenly anticipating the opening. We are looking forward to bringing new jobs and investment to Bow, and providing local customers with the best we have to offer.
We are not yet in a position to confirm an opening date as the landlord has not yet completed the overall development and we need to wait for this to be done before we are given the keys to the site. We will be sure to keep you closely updated on progress.
If I can be of any further assistance, please do let me know.
Yours sincerely
Cathy
Catherine Sprent
Corporate Affairs Manager, London
This is good news?! I understand that convenience is…well, convenient but do we really need another Tesco? Visit the one on Bow Road and witness their absolute lack of competency, consideration and general indifferent attitude for yourself.