Planned for site of Grid Inn Pub in Southfields
Following the imminent opening of a new Sainsbury's in Southfields, local residents are calling for a boycott on the planned new Tesco due to open on the site of the Grid Inn pub on the corner of Replingham Road.
The Grid Inn's owners, J D Wetherspoon, have sold the site to Tesco and the pub is to close on November 18th.
CAMRA (Campaign For Real Ale) South West reported a protest outside the pub on Saturday, while residents are asking how the Tesco deal could have been done when the pub was not even up for sale.
While some Southfielders welcome the convenience of a new Tesco, many more are concerned about the effect it will have on small local shops and the character of Southfields Village. Residents are also disappointed that their local watering hole is to disappear, and there is a call to campaign against the new store.
Chartered surveyor and long-time SW18 resident, James Mead, points out that the council cannot do anything to prevent Tesco opening on the site, unless they are the freeholders of the building, as there is no planning restriction to stop a pub changing to a shop.
Mead, who is CEO of property consultancy Fawcett Mead who specialise in the leasing and sale of retail and leisure property, also points out that if it had not bought this site, Tesco would simply have taken another.
Comment on the sale of the Grid Inn on the forum
November 7, 2011