Nairn news: in demand again!

June 19, 2009 · Filed Under Development, Nairn 

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Lots of interesting news today – not least that Nairn is in demand!

1. Wild Day opens on High Street!

Wild Day plan to open up their temporary shop in the old Woolworths building today. Apparently, they had aimed to open yesterday, but were unable to. Things should have settled down by the weekend, with their displays of campaign equipment up.

This is especially useful for us looking to book for Belladrum, and need to buy a family-sized tent for the festival. :)

While the move is only temporary, it’s good news for the high street in general, especially in context with the old Pulse store being turned into a Jewellers, and the old Watson fruit and veg shop becoming a baby store. Perhaps Nairn’s high street is not really dying at all, but simply in the process of rebirth and re-orientation.

2. Tesco wants Nairn!

A leader in the Inverness Courier points to Tesco in advanced negotiations to buy the old bus station, with the process now apparently subject to planning approval. (Thanks to the Gurn for the heads up).

The location is fairly small, but the possibility of at least one of the derelict buildings being redeveloped – even into a Tesco Express – has to be good news for the town.

While Inverness gets ragged as “Tesco Town” for the supermarket’s presence there, it’s worth remembering that no other supermarket chain considered the Highlands of Scotland to be a viable market for large scale development – and it was only Tesco that dared to trailblaze, with competitors only following after.

In the meantime…

3. Somerfield has a hissy fit!

According to the same Courier coverage:

It has been suggested throughout the inquiry that Somerfield, which has recently been acquired by The Co-operative and has planning permission to extend the store, may not be able to compete with a new Sainsbury’s store, forcing it to back out of its redevelopment proposals, or worse still, force the store to close.

Somerfield has had their chance – more than once – and has done nothing to develop the site, instead leaving Nairn strewn with derelict buildings owned by the supermarket.

In buying the chain, the Co-op are now left with at least two supermarkets in close proximity, and it seems inevitable that one will need to be closed anyway – with eyes on the smaller high street shop as at risk.

However, a threat to close the main town centre store can hardly be something to unnerve Nairnites – a central town store would likely be attractive to other retailers.

As has been pointed out, the town centre store has already been owned by a number of other companies.

And as supermarkets are currently aggressively competing against one another, if Somerfield really did look to pull out of the town centre, there’s little reason to presume the site would remain empty for long.

Alternatively, in a worst case scenario, we could also see if the Highland Council would be able to simply demolish the site and set up car parking – and coach parking – for residents and visitors alike, especially for accessing the high street – not least the new Tesco and newly streetscaped High Street. :)

4. Provost says let’s shop!

In the meantime, Provost Liz MacDonald is giving full support to the Sainsburys development, stating that “deserve improved shopping facilities”.

She also makes the intelligent point that an expanded town centre supermarket may not be able to provide enough parking facilities.

This is especially worth bearing in mind with a partial-pedestrianised high street in Nairn will necessarily limit parking space, and the current Somerfield car park is a natural second for high street parking.

Overall, despite the economic crisis, Nairn looks set to enjoy extended retail development that will at least remove some of the eye sores from the town centre – and bring much needed retail choice to Nairn. :)

Comments

6 Responses to “Nairn news: in demand again!”

  1. Bill (Scotland) on June 19th, 2009 3:47 pm

    Safeway and its predecessor company Finefare were in Inverness long before Tesco ever came here; it is of course now Morrisons and operates out of the former main Safeway premises adjacent to the Eastgate centre. Tesco in fact arrived in Inverness when it acquired the Dundee-based supermarket chain William Low, whose store at the time was the present Tesco store in Tomnahurich Street – at the time it was an almost new store and which it gradually rebranded as a Tesco outlet. The Inshes Tesco resulted from the acquisition of the former Co-op store, many people think (and I am one of them) it did this only to thwart the efforts of Asda to come to Inverness, which both it and Safeway succeeded in doing for quite a few years – indeed its planning application has also been ‘called-in’ by the Scottish Executive (aka ‘Government’).

    I do wonder, frankly, at the motives of Tesco for the rumour of its desire to acquire the bus-station site in Nairn being revealed just at this time; are they trying to scupper the Sainsbury application? Like most people, I expect, I do a fair bit of my shopping at Tesco, ‘faute de mieux’, but if there were a Sainsbury (or even a Waitrose – we can dream, can’t we? – lol) it would be no contest for me.

  2. Brian Turner on June 19th, 2009 4:01 pm

    Thanks for the details, Bill – sounds like something of a supermarket war in play. :)

  3. Gurnmeister on June 19th, 2009 5:41 pm

    ‘I do wonder, frankly, at the motives of Tesco for the rumour of its desire to acquire the bus-station site in Nairn being revealed just at this time; are they trying to scupper the Sainsbury application? ‘

    You are not alone Bill :-)

  4. nairnbairn on June 20th, 2009 10:58 pm

    Spoiling tactics? By Tesco? What a heretical thought…

    But if their intentions are serious, then this would really be a disaster for Nairn. There’s nothing wrong with competition between supermarkets, and choice for the consumer. A Sainsburys at Balmakeith might not be unduly bothered by having Tesco as a rival. But think what a Tesco on the bus station site would mean:

    - traffic chaos. With only the existing bus-stop/parking area on that side of the A96, the additional congestion would be severe. No doubt the planners would once again suggest yet more traffic lights, or a Leopold Street roundabout, to handle this…

    - a major threat to the High Street shops. At least redevelopment of the Somerfield site would necessarily be linked to, and integrated with, the High Street to enable shoppers to walk – as they do now – from the supermarket to the banks and the High Street shops. A supermarket on the other side of the A96 would have no such links. People would pull in to that side of the road, shop, and drive on.

    - an unwelcome precedent. Apart from the ugly pizza shop, there is no retail on the west side of the A96 in that part of the town. Once a supermarket is built there, the pressure for a filling station and other retail units will become irresistible, and there would be demands to leave space free at the front for buses etc. This would result in…

    - A serious threat to the remaining Viewfield green space. Ironically, although the bus station and fire station do not exactly enhance the Viewfield area, they do at least shield it. Imagine what impact a Tesco-style retail building there would have! In no time there would be calls to “fill in”, or tarmac over, the space between the bus station site and the bowling club/museum – either to create more retail units, or to increase parking away from the A96.

    - the closing off of other, more sensible options. At present the Viewfield area with recreation clubs and community facilities, is essentially public-amenity space (not counting the police station, which one hopes does not generate huge “footfall” or traffic!). Some architects/planners – such as the Princes Trust people – have offered imaginative visions for opening up and connecting the Viewfield/museum area to the rest of town in ways which will offer new vistas and pedestrian access to this green space. Permitting the spread of retail park units to the west side of the A96 would be perverse and short-sighted.

    The solution to the derelict bus station problem is to demolish it – it is already a health and safety hazard – and to refurbish and perhaps extend the perfectly decent stone building behind it (currently a Council store?) so that this original building could serve a useful public purpose: Parks office? Tourist information centre? Burgh service point? Arts and festivals office?

    But whatever happens, no Tesco at the old bus station: that would simply make the current bad situation on that site infinitely worse.

  5. Fire Eater on June 22nd, 2009 2:29 pm

    My big concern is that Tesco would want to acquire the fire station ground with the offer to relocate the fire station. Nairn is very lucky to have its fire station in the centre of town on the main road. Bearing in mind Nairn fire station is crewed by retained fire fighters who only attend the fire station to answer emergency calls when we are alerted via our bleepers, moving the fire station out of town (Balmakeith Industrial Estate being a likely location) would, I believe, increase our response time by at least 5 minutes (that is doubling the current response time) when the road is quiet, I could only guess at the time it would take between 3.00pm & 6.00pm when the town is at a stand still. I don’t think I would be far wrong if I guessed 15 to 20 minutes.

  6. Jon Lane on June 24th, 2009 2:22 pm

    I imagine that Tesco is simply putting a little pressure on the other players. Look at how much news coverage they have got from the mere mention of their name. The big boys have no interrest other than hard cash. If Tesco can worry Sainsbury’s by suggesting they might come out to play then they will have got a result. Sainsbury’s might then take fright and go else where rahter than risk a fight.

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