Tesco bids to sell surplus pub land

7:00pm Thursday 16th August 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Damian Fantato, covering Summertown, Jericho and North Oxford. Call me on 01865 425429

The Rev Jane Sherwood outside the old Fox & Hounds pub The Rev Jane Sherwood outside the old Fox & Hounds pub

SUPERMARKET giant Tesco is aiming to sell off part of a site it spent years trying to turn into a shop.

The company has revealed it has put land behind the Fox and Hounds pub in South Oxford on the market.

Tesco will be selling the land without planning permission but will be marketing it as a potential housing development.

The patch of land sits between the former petrol station site and Peel Place and measures a fifth of an acre.

Tesco spokesman Simon Petar said: “It is surplus land and will be sold off for a mixed residential development.

“It is still our intention to build the store as soon as possible and when I have a firmer date I will inform the community.”

In January, after a four-year battle, Tesco was given planning permission to demolish the derelict pub, on the corner of Abingdon Road and Weirs Lane, and replace it with a three-storey building.

The ground-floor store will have four flats above it.

The local community was split over the plans, with some against the store’s impact on other local shops while others wanted to see the site put to good use.

The Rev Jane Sherwood, vicar of St Luke’s Church in Canning Crescent, said: “I have heard Tesco has had a really bad trading year so maybe that has something to do with it.

“The site is becoming dangerous.

“Something needs to be done with the land now and housing makes sense.

“It is crazy that they spent so much time battling over turning it into a store and now they are selling part of the site off.”

The Fox and Hounds has been empty since 2007.

It was bought by Tesco in 2008. Since then it has been the subject of a number of planning applications to create a shop at the site which were unsuccessful until this year.

The empty pub was badly damaged by a fire in 2009.

Chatham Road resident William Rankin said: “Anything is better than the eyesore we have got there now, and housing is something which is very much desired in Oxford.

“It was always in the pipeline that they had more land there than they needed.”

Tesco would not reveal how much it hopes to get for the piece of land it is selling.

Comments(7)

Whitto says...
7:36pm Thu 16 Aug 12

It was good to see some workers up there today and yesterday clearing the site up, the local residents must be pleased. I'd have thought the Oxford Maill would have mentioned that in a piece released today seeing as they are so up to the minute with their reporting?

To be honest though Rev Sherwood, selling part of it for housing will probably pay for the store and might have been part of the plan all along.

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Dilligaf2010 says...
7:38pm Thu 16 Aug 12

I wondered why there was an advertising board on the place when I passed it the other day, now I know.

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Dilligaf2010 says...
7:40pm Thu 16 Aug 12

Why do the Oxford Mail always talk to The Rev Jane Sherwood, is there nobody else in the area that can speak?

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Myron Blatz says...
7:24am Fri 17 Aug 12

Tesco bought the site - like other retail chains do - to stop competitors setting up shop, rather than because of any particular local need for yet another supermarket shop. It's ironic that few (if any) of the major supermarket chains want to open on the main council estates in and around Oxford - especially Blackbird Leys and Barton, where even the Coop won't set up shop. Yes, the Coop did build a new shop and flats complex on Oxford Road Rose Hill, but not actually on the council estate - where for years it had a shop, but suffered problems with break-ins and theft. However, maybe the solution to issues such as the fiasco at the former Fox & Hounds site on Abingdon Road which Tesco bought and the ignored, is for revenue-greedy Oxford City Council to be less interested in potential revenue, and more concerned about land use and how it best serves the needs of those who already live there. Oxford needs more low-cost homes to rent, than yet more supermarkets on every corner in some uncontrolled game of retail monopoly - with the proposed Sainsbury's development at Cowley Centre being a good example of retail overkill, whilst the chain has consistently ignored Blackbird Leys, despite its huge population and buses every 4 minutes!

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colbart says...
9:51am Fri 17 Aug 12

Also have a huge skip in the space the demolished petrol station was in.
and men chainsawing the shrubs, clearing the area.

The temporary fencing had an advertising board for ages......I know although the fuel tanks were removed and sealed, that it is classified as 'Toxic' site for a certain time, as in Abingdon, after many rumours of another drive-through chain, they finally built blocks of apartments.

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Andrew:Oxford says...
1:39pm Fri 17 Aug 12

Myron Blatz wrote:
Tesco bought the site - like other retail chains do - to stop competitors setting up shop, rather than because of any particular local need for yet another supermarket shop. It's ironic that few (if any) of the major supermarket chains want to open on the main council estates in and around Oxford - especially Blackbird Leys and Barton, where even the Coop won't set up shop. Yes, the Coop did build a new shop and flats complex on Oxford Road Rose Hill, but not actually on the council estate - where for years it had a shop, but suffered problems with break-ins and theft. However, maybe the solution to issues such as the fiasco at the former Fox & Hounds site on Abingdon Road which Tesco bought and the ignored, is for revenue-greedy Oxford City Council to be less interested in potential revenue, and more concerned about land use and how it best serves the needs of those who already live there. Oxford needs more low-cost homes to rent, than yet more supermarkets on every corner in some uncontrolled game of retail monopoly - with the proposed Sainsbury's development at Cowley Centre being a good example of retail overkill, whilst the chain has consistently ignored Blackbird Leys, despite its huge population and buses every 4 minutes!
It has been rumoured, in the commercial property sector, that a major retailer has expressed interest in the BB Leys Community Centre & former Swimming Pool site.

The suggested deal would be for demolition of existing aged buildings with new retail outlet and brand new community centre to be built on site.

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sparky123456 says...
5:21pm Fri 17 Aug 12

I thought it measured about 0.25 acres so surely that's not really enough to build more than a couple of small houses? and who would want to live right next to a tesco with all the noisy air con units and stinky bins next to your back door?!

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