BELFAST BRIEFING:A DAVID and Goliath battle is taking place in the North this week as small local traders in Banbridge, Co Down, prepare to defend their turf against the threat of a proposed hypermarket.
Tesco wants to develop possibly the largest out-of-town supermarket on the island at a retail park just outside Banbridge on the main Belfast to Dublin road.
The developers behind Bridgewater Park, which is already home to the Outlet, a designer factory shopping centre, argue that a potential £200 million (€235 million) investment boost is at stake. They also claim that the proposed Tesco store could create up to 1,500 jobs for Banbridge and its surrounding towns and villages.
But local businesspeople claim a Tesco hypermarket would have the reverse effect and result in job losses and the closure of small shops.
Róisín McAleenan, president of Banbridge Chamber of Commerce, believes the proposed 130,000sq ft Tesco store could turn the town centre into a “retail ghost town”.
It is a view shared by Minister of the Environment Sammy Wilson, who last year refused the store planning permission.
But the developers behind the scheme, a joint venture operated by Land Securities Group and GML Estates, have appealed the decision and a Planning Appeals Commission hearing this week will review the evidence in
favour of and against the Tesco store.
According to the developers, the economic argument for the store is straightforward, particularly in the current economic climate. It is a jobs and investment boost that would be hard for Banbridge to attract in other circumstances.
But the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association (Niirta) claims research shows this type of development can have a negative impact on the community.
The association, Banbridge Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses, the Ulster Chemists’ Association and Newry Chamber of Commerce have come together to wage a united campaign against the hypermarket.
Niirta chief executive Glyn Roberts says independent research carried out in the UK shows local businesses would be the ultimate losers if the Tesco store got the green light.
He says a petition opposing the development has garnered 3,000 signatures from locals. “This petition . . . shows that there is widespread public support for the Save Banbridge Town Centre campaign,” says Roberts.
The petition is a vote of confidence for shop owners in Banbridge such as Joe Quail, whose family-owned business has spanned four generations.
Quails, which began life in 1898 as a small butcher’s shop and has evolved into a modern-day food hall, embodies the commitment shown by local businesses to Banbridge and their customers.
Quail believes the Tesco superstore would “decimate Banbridge town centre”.
The Quail family built their business down through the decades on hard work and hard-won customer loyalty. They still believe, as Matthew Alexander Quail, the original founder of the business did, in the importance of looking after the shop and the customers themselves – albeit with a team of people behind the family now.
The debate this week as to whether Tesco should be granted permission to develop a superstore on the outskirts of Banbridge should not simply centre on planning.
It should be an opportunity for Northern Ireland to set in motion the foundations for the retail environment it wants to create in the future.
There are serious questions to be asked about how many more supermarket developments the North can support.
But, more importantly, Northern Ireland also needs to find a way to help family-owned independent businesses such as Quails to not only survive but flourish in the multiple-dominated retail environment which now exists in the North.
