Tesco signs a deal for former Northampton Sorting Office

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Tesco signs a deal for former Northampton Royal Mail sorting office

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TESCO has signed a deal to take over the former Royal Mail sorting office in Northampton.


The Chronicle & Echo first revealed in January last year that the firm had held talks about taking on the former sorting office, in Barrack Road, which was destroyed by a fire in 2003.

Now, Royal Mail has confirmed to the Chron that a deal with Tesco to take on the building was signed last week.

A Royal Mail spokesman said: “Our commitment to redevelop and regenerate the Barrack Road site and create new jobs is as strong as ever. The fact an agreement has now been signed with Tesco means this is a very serious project.”

Despite years of negotiations, Royal Mail’s spokesman admitted Tesco was always the favourite to take on the sorting office site.

He said: “It was always likely to be Tesco. They were always the ones who were interested in the site.”

Royal Mail submitted its own plans to convert the derelict sorting office into a supermarket to the West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC) at the end of last year. Now Tesco is officially on board with the scheme, those plans have been withdrawn and it is expected new ones, drawn up with Tesco, will be submitted to the WNDC within the next few months.

A letter sent to the WNDC on behalf of Royal Mail, which has been seen by the Chron, suggests that if planning permission for the store is granted, Tesco will definitely go ahead with the development.

The letter said: “The contractual commitment provides absolute certainty that the granting of planning permission will deliver the scheme and all of its benefits.

“Indeed, these are substantially reinforced by the presence of Tesco and the confidence this will bring to this part of Northampton, with the certainty of local jobs and other benefits for the community.”

Royal Mail has previously said it believef the development of a supermarket on the Barrack Road site would create 400 new jobs.

If Tesco was given permission to convert the sorting office into a store, it would be the company’s 11th shop in Northampton, following the opening of the Metro on the site of the former Woolworths store in Abington Street in April this year.

But county councillor Tony Clarke (Ind, Castle) said Tesco would have to work hard to win over people who lived near the sorting office site.

He said: “There will be some massive issues to sort out, particularly parking and traffic. And nobody wants a new supermarket at the expense of the Co-op in Semilong or the other shops in The Mounts which currently support the community.”