The Bradley Stoke Journal

The coming week sees a full programme of Christmas-themed events in Bradley Stoke.

Tuesday (16th December) sees Bradley Stoke Community School (BSCS) hosting a European Christmas Market from 5pm to 7:30pm. The event has been organised to celebrate the school’s designation as a specialist Performing Arts and Languages College (effective since September 2008). Students will plan, run and produce stock for their market stalls, with a range of cultural influences. On offer will be foreign language Christmas cards, a variety of European sweets and cakes, decorations, candles, jewellery and stocking filler stalls, along with mulled wine, hot drinks, mince pies and chestnuts. Music will be provided by the BSCS brass band and choir.

Bradley Stoke Library is running a Children’s Christmas Crafts Session on Saturday (20th December) between 10am and 12 noon. The event, at which which children will make Christmas cards and decorations, is aimed at four to nine year-olds.

A Christmas Novelty Orienteering Event takes place on Sunday (21st December) in the Three Brooks Local Nature Reserve. The event, organised by Bristol Orienteering Klub (BOK), starts and finishes from Bradley Stoke Leisure Centre (start any time between 10am and 12 noon). People of all ages and abilities can enjoy an hour or so of lighthearted sporting fun, running or walking around the paths and woodland areas using a map (supplied) to navigate to a series of control points, where pre-placed markers can be found or clue questions can be answered. Santa Claus himself will be trying out parts of the courses and any competitor who punches their map using Santa’s special punch will receive an Christmas treat at the finish! Treats are also available to anyone wearing a festive or festively-decorated hat! More details on the BOK website.

Santa Claus has already been spotted around Bradley Stoke in the past couple of weeks. Our pictures (below) show him in the aisles of the Tesco Extra store and out and about on his sleigh, kindly provided by the 1st Bradley Stoke Scouts, who are raising funds for new camping equipment.

Less than two weeks after the opening of Bradley Stoke’s new Tesco Extra store in the Willow Brook Centre, the town’s old Tesco store is quickly being reduced to rubble.

Local firm Bath Demolition has the contract to tear down the redundant store, a task that is expected to take six weeks according to a source on site. Once the demolition is complete, the land will be transformed into much needed additional car parking for the Willow Brook Centre.

Many people will see the demolition of a building that is just 15 years old as a sad commentary on the inadequate planning that was a mark of Bradley Stoke’s early days. Backers of the £80 million Willow Brook Centre will probably be hoping that their investment lasts a little longer.

Removal of the old store will clear the way for a new bus lane that is to enter the town centre site from Bradley Stoke Way. Buses will run along the side of the main Willow Brook Centre building before skirting the new Town Square to emerge on the access road that leads from the Three Brooks roundabout.

Related Links: Ready for the scrapheap

The Nationwide Building Society agency, operated by 1st Equity, opened its doors on Monday (20th October) in Bradley Stoke’s new Willow Brook Centre. This means that all tenants of the Centre that were initially intending to be trading on the official opening day of Monday 13th October are now open for business.

Elsewhere in the Centre, a press release put out by Tesco describes the new Tesco Extra store’s first week of trading as “phenomenal”, with more than 30,000 shoppers visiting the superstore in the first seven days.

Tesco Extra manager Oliver Hill said:

“People seem to have voted with their feet and we have been bowled over with the response from the local community. Despite the credit crunch, business in the first week has exceeded all our expectations and we are really grateful for the support from Bradley Stoke.”

Shoppers were treated to a Family Fun Day at the weekend featuring stilt walker and juggler Mr Do and top face painter Michelle Evans [more photos].

Other events planned include a Tesco Price Check game show on Saturday 25th October and a Halloween Fun Day on Friday 31st October.

The Journal’s photographer has been out and about all day recording events in and around the Willow Brook Centre on its opening day.

The day started shortly before 8am, as a group of keen shoppers queued to be the first into the new Tesco Extra store. When the doors opened, a number of lucky customers were rewarded with Tesco shopping vouchers.

WIth the initial rush over, there was time to have a good look around the Willow Brook Centre and take a coffee in the Town Square.

Ten o’clock saw the arrival of various civic dignitaries, to witness the official opening ceremony performed by Bradley Stoke Mayor Robert Jones – assisted by Tesco Extra store manager Oliver Hill.

The flow of shoppers steadily increased over the day, until a surge of school children from the nearby Bradley Stoke Community School threatened to overwhelm the Tesco Extra store shortly after 2:15pm.

A Tesco contact told The Journal that trading on the day had exceeded expectations, although the style of shopping was described as being mostly of the “shallow trolley” kind.

The Town Square was generally well received by the public, although it looked a little worse for wear at the end of the night, with plenty of takeaway debris littering the area.

We have some great photos, taken over the whole day, in our PicasaWeb gallery:

• Album
• Slideshow

The Willow Brook Centre, Bradley Stoke’s new town centre development, opened its doors to the public today, when the giant new Tesco Extra store began trading.

A small group of shoppers and representatives of the local media assembled outside the Town Square entrance to the centre’s shopping mall shortly before 8am this morning.

On the stroke of eight o’clock, the shutters to the new store were raised and security staff allowed the first shoppers into the centre.

First into the store was Nigel Grove from Portishead, a landlord with a number of properties in Bradley Stoke, closely followed by a group of local schoolchildren. The first shoppers were greeted by Tesco Customer Service Manager Matt Hill and Publicity Representative Darryl Freedman.

A number of early shoppers were presented with £10 vouchers to spend in the store. A delighted Mr Grove said “I spent my two vouchers on Christmas chocolates – that’s the earliest I ever done my Christmas shopping!” He was later seen leaving the store with a trolley full of bargains.

Once the initial rush was over, quiet returned to the Town Square, and it was time for Bradley Stoke Mayor Robert Jones, Willow Brook Centre manager Scott Lahive and Tesco Extra manager Oliver Hill to take part in a live interview on BBC Radio Bristol [listen again: broadcasts at +1:19 and +2:07, available for the for next seven days only].

This was the scene shortly before 8am this morning (Monday 13th October) after workmen had toiled through the night to get Bradley Stoke’s new Town Square ready for today’s official opening of the Willow Brook Centre.

The stone pillars in the foreground are intended to support a set of wrought iron gates brought over from France, but construction difficulties meant that they could not be erected to their full height in time for today’s opening.

As the opening hour of 8am approached, a small group of people assembled outside the entrance to the main building of the Willow Brook Centre, waiting for the new Tesco Extra store to open its doors.

Bradley Stoke Mayor Robert Jones was also present, having given taken part in a live interview on BBC Radio Bristol shortly after 7am.

The Subway sandwich store, which borders the Square, had already begun trading when The Journal’s reporter arrived at 7:45am. Elsewhere in the Square, KFC was set to open at 10am, but there were no signs of activity in the Greggs bakery shop, which seems to need a little more work before it is ready to open.

Check back soon for more coverage of the Willow Brook Centre’s opening day.