Plans for budget Tesco in Kettering put on the back burner

It's been almost two years since a plan for a new Jack's store was approved
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A budget Tesco is not on the immediate horizon for Kettering almost two years after plans for the store were approved.

Tesco put in plans in 2017 for a new retail unit next to its Carina Road superstore, initially keeping a lid on who it intended would occupy it.

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In October 2018 the Northants Telegraph revealed it planned to open a new Jack's store there as part of a trial of the format, which aims to rival discount grocers Aldi and Lidl.

Another UK Jack's store.Another UK Jack's store.
Another UK Jack's store.

The following month Kettering Council approved the plan - but almost two years later there's been little progress.

And a Tesco spokesman has now revealed they still have no immediate plans to develop the site.

The spokesman said: “We are always looking for potential sites for new Jack’s stores and these applications are part of this process.

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"Whilst we don’t have any immediate plans to develop this site we will keep the community updated should the situation change.”

Planning documents said there was no concrete commitment for Jack's to occupy the unit, but that Tesco had made a public commitment to that effect.

At the time, a planning statement said: “This new retail format specialises in convenience retailing with a focus on affordable pricing and British producers and suppliers.

“The planned stores will operate as a separate entity from existing Tesco stores but will form part of the Tesco family and will benefit from shared resources associated with existing Tesco stores.

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“In the case of Kettering, the proposed store being adjacent the existing Tesco Extra unit will allow a sharing of logistics which reduces redundant processes whilst allowing for more cost-efficient operations with the additional benefit of reducing environmental impact.”

An Aldi is due to open next month in the retail park opposite Tesco after it was knocked down and rebuilt.

Jack’s, named after Tesco founder Jack Cohen, opened its first store at a mothballed Tesco in Chatteris, Cambridgeshire.

Earlier this year The Grocer reported that plans had been submitted to build the 13th UK Jack's store in Hull.

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