Planners have given the green light for a new retail development, anchored by a Waitrose store, on Bromsgrove’s former Market Hall site.
Developer, the Hinton Group, expects to start construction soon of the 16,000 sq ft Little Waitrose store, which will create an estimated 60 jobs, with completion due in the first three months of 2017. The current car park on the site will be kept and refurbished.
In a deal brokered by Worcestershire commercial property consultancy GJS Dillon Limited, the 1.78 acre former Market Hall site on St Johns Street, at the southern end of the town’s High Street, was acquired by the Hinton Group from Bromsgrove District Council and will be built out in two phases, starting with the new Waitrose Store.
Presently consisting primarily of a council owned car park, plus two buildings fronting on to Worcester Road, the former Market Hall site is regarded as one of the key gateways into the town centre and is considered in the Bromsgrove Town Plan as an important new retail led mixed use location, which will add to the overall retail offer and create an anchor at the southern end of the town.
John Dillon, managing director of GJS Dillon said: “Securing planning permission for the Waitrose store will have a positive effect on this traditional Worcestershire market town which already has a thriving and busy community. Bromsgrove is a popular town with a resident population of circa 30,000 people and a catchment population in the region of circa 90,000 people, and this development will help draw more shoppers to the town centre.”