New aldi

[Andyb]

Seen planning for new Aldi in old toys r us site

[syd]

Great news. Hopefully Lidl will get their shit together and take over the old coop

[stuart]

Hopefully Lidl will get their shit together and take over the old coop

Is the Co-op any larger than the current store?

More sense for Lidl to take the shop next door, knock down the wall and move the tills in there. Oh and is it just me the self-checking one have a problem with?

Stuart

[Andyb]

From the outside toys r us sure is bigger than coop and with the parking a more sensible choice, must be someone out there who wants the old coop and takes out that stupid false wall coop built making shopfloor smaller

[perryman]

... Oh and is it just me the self-checking one have a problem with?
Stuart

I get red lighted every single time. All the machines do not like you using your own bags before you even start.
Some are not very sensitive to whether the goods have been placed in the bag and you have to press down a little to get it to wake up.

[JGD]

I get red lighted every single time. All the machines do not like you using your own bags before you even start.
Some are not very sensitive to whether the goods have been placed in the bag and you have to press down a little to get it to wake up.

I used to get the same red-light treatment too (across all retailer outlets) - felt like I was being red-carded in fact.

My workaround is now never to say I am using my own bags, sit my bags on the floor, do the scanning and pay - and then place the shopping in my bags.

Gets me through self-service sessions without difficulties about 95% of the time.

[JGD]

New announcement from Aldi reported in The Independent:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/busi ... 62696.html

Last year, the grocer announced that it would invest £1bn in new stores and upgrades of existing branches during 2017 and 2018.

The company has now confirmed plans to open 130 new stores between 2019 and 2020, with three new regional distribution centres also planned.

According to Aldi, the planned expansions will create 5,000 new jobs over the next two years.

[RachelF]

So this would mean they aren't going to use the gasholders' site... I guess by planning, you mean they have submitted a planning application for change of use etc. to the council?

[Sydenham Syd]

I guess the gas holders site is a good option given the hammering Sainsburys is getting.
Still wondering what is happening with the old Coop site, which would seem to me to be a good opportunity despite the lack of parking, which is probably a deal-breaker

[stuart]

Still wondering what is happening with the old Coop site, which would seem to me to be a good opportunity despite the lack of parking, which is probably a deal-breaker

Ahem, Girton Road Car Park could hardly be closer. Doesn't do Lidl's any harm. Plus there it's a lot more convenient for the non-car based custom. Problem is its the wrong size for many retailer's formats.

Stuart

[Sydenham Syd]

Still wondering what is happening with the old Coop site, which would seem to me to be a good opportunity despite the lack of parking, which is probably a deal-breaker

Ahem, Girton Road Car Park could hardly be closer. Doesn't do Lidl's any harm. Plus there it's a lot more convenient for the non-car based custom. Problem is its the wrong size for many retailer's formats.

Stuart

Yeah, I know about the size issue, in fact the guy who did the administration of Bludgens cited it as the primary reason why they couldn't sustain the business - not big enough and not small enough - he also pointed out the dreadful administration of the cash flows....

Thing is, that store size can't be a great deal smaller than Lidl, if not larger - I would have thought a high street site would be a good deal more beneficial. It also has a massive upstairs by the looks of it. I would have thought floor space would have easily have been big enough, although I guess it may come alongside a pretty sizeable re-fit cost.

I guess the change of use for the old ToysRUs will be straightforward, but the site on the high street you would have thought would be pretty good.

[parker]

I thought Sainsbury’s owned the Toys R Us site and therefore would not entertain the idea of letting a fellow grocer open there. At least that’s what was bandied about on here not so long ago.

The Aldi drawings above would suggest that is no longer true, if it was before.

[JGD]

Even from Day One on this wider site, I do not think Sainsbury's directly owned any part of the site.

It is my recall that planning and development was all handled by an investment/development company and subsequent stages had different parties in that role too. The phase that now has a B&Q and Currys/PC World presence (et al)was originally planned to be a Homebase. They abandoned their plans as the site remediation work was coming to completion and the developer had to find new occupants.

I stand to be corrected on detail.

[John H]

Even from Day One on this wider site, I do not think Sainsbury's directly owned any part of the site.

It is my recall that planning and development was all handled by an investment/development company and subsequent stages had different parties in that role too. The phase that now has a B&Q and Currys/PC World presence (et al)was originally planned to be a Homebase. They abandoned their plans as the site remediation work was coming to completion and the developer had to find new occupants.

I stand to be corrected on detail.

That would not explain why Sainsbury's had to fork out money for public projects as a condition of the approval... None of that money appears to have been spent on Sydenham.

[JGD]

John H

The s106 agreements were signed off by a company called Castlemore (Sydenham) Limited with LB Lewisham in 1993 and a second company, Castlemore Securities Limited, played a role in defining variations to the orignal agreements in 2008. I do not know who the beneficial owners of the Castlemore companies are or were. It is entirely possible that they were set up as an SPV by Sainsbury's or another party to manage this process - but I have no insight into that.

There was circa £2.05 m of monies allocated for several elements of betterment around Bell Green and in Sydenham and Forest Hill (around 12 separate parcels I think).

The major portion of these monies were to be spent on safety modifications and widening of the rail bridge at the end of Southend Lane. Clearly that portion was not spent on its original purpose.

Lewisham in 2014 published a tracker of all s106 monies in which these sums were listed but, unaccountably, whether and where these monies were spent or even collected from the developer has not been made clear.

Neither council officers or elected members have been able to provide a cogent and complete accounting.

[stuart]

From memory I thought Castlemore was a British Gas associated company administrating and selling off their old estate ie the gasworks.

Perhaps PaT T can recall more?

Stuart

[JRW]

Castlemore (Sydenham) was compulsorily liquidated between 2009 and 2015, at the request of their creditor, British Gas. Castleford Securities went into administration in 2009 and commenced liquidation in March this year. They owe money to every bank going - mortgages taken against one property to leverage funds for the next.

[JGD]

Good info Julia.

There is a real web of Castlemore companies - some dissolved and some still trading (I think).

Using the new Companies House Beta site where a larger volume of data is retrievable and for free at the moment, shows I have made an error in my post above specifying the 1993 date. Castlemore (Sydenham) Ltd did not exist then and they appeared in the scheme of things later at the Phase II Planning stage. Currently reviewing the signatories to the original s106 agreements although I believe the sums of monies to be broadly accurate..

[angela53]

Cannot find anything on the Aldi website as to whether the Sydenham Aldi is happening or not
Shame if it doesn't open in former Toys are Us

[admin]

It is on course to open later this year I believe.