The Bradley Stoke Journal

A public consultation on the provision of post office services in Bradley Stoke has demonstrated an overwhelming demand for a larger post office in the town.

The survey, conducted by the Town Council between August and October this year, saw 92.7% of the 273 respondents express the view that there is a need for a larger post office in Bradley Stoke.

A clear majority (68.1%) specifically said they would like to see a large post office at the Willow Brook Centre, a proportion that increases to 76.6% if those that expressed two or more locational preferences are included.

The town’s only current post office, within the Tesco Express store at Bradley Pavillions, Pear Tree Road, is criticised by many of the respondents for being too small and offering an inadequate range of services for a town the size of Bradley Stoke.

Parking facilities at the existing North Bradley Stoke post office are condemned by many respondents as inadequate and there are numerous complaints of people experiencing long waiting times at the two window facility.

The consultation was carried out after Cllr Tom Aditya, newly elected in May this year, raised the matter at July’s Full Council meeting, having campaigned as a resident for better post office facilities since as long ago as 2007.

The Town Council has now agreed to send the results of the consultation to the Royal Mail, Tesco, the Willow Brook Centre and the local MP.

Royal Mail and Tesco reluctant to change the status quo »

A local businessman has claimed that customers of the Tesco petrol filling station in Bradley Stoke are being charged a premium compared to other Tesco garages in the Bristol area.

The man, who does not wish to be named, claims that prices at the Tesco garage in Staple Hill are consistently up to to 3p a litre cheaper than Bradley Stoke, which can add almost £2 to the price of a full tank.

The facts are that Tesco are selling fuel at up to 3p per litre cheaper at other stations of theirs, when this fuel all comes from Avonmouth at the same cost.

How can this be justified? Or is it that they feel the residents of Bradley Stoke can afford it?

He added that staff at the Bradley Stoke garage have told him that Tesco no longer operates a price comparision policy on fuel but maintain that their petrol and diesel remain “competitively priced”.

When The Journal checked prices today, the cheapest five sources within five miles of Bradley Stoke were all offering unleaded at 108.9p per litre, 2p cheaper than the 110.9p asked at Bradley Stoke.

We weren’t able to check the price at Tesco Staple Hill, but Tesco Eastville prices were 1p lower than Bradley Stoke when we checked on Sunday.

Related links:

• Cheap petrol & diesel (MoneySavingExpert.com)
• Find the lowest petrol prices in your area (PetrolPrices.com)

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

Tesco plc has announced the appointment of Oliver Hill as manager of the new Tesco Extra store that is set to open on Monday 13th October at Bradley Stoke’s new Willow Brook Centre.

Mr Hill has been with Tesco for eleven years and hails from Surrey. He now lives locally and has recently been running the recruitment centre for the new Bradley Stoke store.

In a press release put out by Freedman Brown Communications on behalf on Tesco, Mr Hill says:

“I am aiming to deliver the Tesco values including giving our customers fantastic service and low prices and providing a wide range of quality products. Customers will see a clean bright and spacious brand new store with fast and friendly customer service.”

The new Tesco Extra store will include a range of non-food departments, fresh food, deli, fish counter, olive bar, meat counter, hot chicken take away, adults and children’s clothing, a travel money desk, telecoms shop, photo lab and electrical department. It will also have a pharmacy and opticians.

There will be over 15,000 different products on offer and 40 checkouts to cope with demand from shoppers.

The new store will employ over 600 people, compared to the 299 that work at the existing Tesco store on the site.

The first phase of Bradley Stoke’s new Willow Brook Centre will open on Monday 13th October. The first day of trading will see the giant new Tesco Extra store open to customers, along with five other retail outlets in the attached shopping mall and Town Square. The town’s existing main Tesco store, situated alongside the new development, will cease trading the day before.

The first five tenants in the centre will be Costa Coffee, KFC, Reflections Hairdressing, Nationwide Building Society and Carphone Warehouse, confirming rumours that have been circulating in the local media for some time.

A press release issued by Tesco on Friday (29th August) stated only that the centre would open “this October”, but the more precise opening date of 13th October was shown on the official Willow Brook Centre website that unexpectedly went live the same day.

Centre manager Scott Lahive later confirmed the 13th October date to The Journal, confessing that the official website had gone live a few days earlier than intended. He added that any slippage in the announced date was now unlikely, but if it did occur it would be made known in the next week or so.

The Bradley Stoke Examiner noted in a report on Friday that sandwich chain Subway was also listed on the official website. However, by Sunday evening, the Subway logo (shown left, from the Google cache) had been removed. Mr Lahive confirmed to The Journal that negotiations have taken place with Subway, but he added that no contracts have been signed.

Mr Lahive declined to confirm rumours originating from information previously seen on a prototype version of the official website that Greggs (the bakers) have expressed an interest in taking a unit in the new development.

Related Links:

• Inside the Willow Brook Centre – a guided tour
• New Town Centre – Jobs
• New Town Centre – Shops

The Willow Brook Centre, Bradley Stoke’s new £80 million shopping centre, is now just weeks away from opening its doors to the general public. Construction of the complex, which includes a Tesco Extra store, a shopping mall and further retail outlets around a new Town Square, has progressed rapidly over the Summer months and the centre could be ready to open as early as mid-October.

The Journal has been documenting progress on construction of the complex since work began on the site in December 2007 – a photographic record of the development can be seen in our PicasaWeb Gallery, which now includes over 700 shots taken from public spaces around the site.

With the first phase of the project nearing completion, The Journal was last week invited into the complex by centre manager Scott Lahive to record scenes inside the shopping mall and around the feature Town Square.

These fascinating shots (complete with explanatory captions) can now be viewed in our PicasaWeb Gallery:

• Album
• Slideshow (broadband recommended)

Read the step by step account of our guided tour …