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Aldi reconsiders Brighton move
12:46pm Thursday 15th May 2008
Comments (34)A no-frills supermarket is reviewing plans to open a store in a run-down street.
Cut-price shop Aldi had planned to move into the old Sainsbury's store in London Road, Brighton.
Traders hoped the chain would breathe new life into an area that has struggled in recent years.
But it has emerged that the German company is reconsidering the site, which has been empty for more than a year.
The Argus understands the store's first parking-free supermarket has not worked as well as expected, putting plans to open similar stores on hold. A final decision on the London Road branch has not been made but the lease is back on the market.
Roland Stanley, the property director for Aldi Chelmsford, said: "Aldi is reviewing the proposed site in London Road, Brighton, and will update residents accordingly."
There are about 5,000 Aldi stores worldwide, which all run on the same low-cost philosophy.
Goods are stacked on pallets and customers are charged for plastic shopping bags. The chain also supplies trolleys rather than baskets to cut costs.
Councillor Keith Taylor said: "It is a shame the shop has been closed and it adds to the problems when we have a large central site unoccupied.
"There should be a push so we can get it back in use as soon as possible to help revive London Road to its former vibrancy."
Coun Taylor, who represents St Peter's and North Laine on Brighton and Hove City Council, said he would like the new occupiers to offer local and fair trade products.
The London Road Sainsbury's, which was situated at the junction with Cheapside, near St Peter's Church, had served shoppers for 33 years.
It closed last February and moved a few hundred metres to the New England Quarter redevelopment.
The Open Market Traders Association has published plans to turn the land between London Road and Ditchling Road into a continental-style covered area with 70 stalls, flats and a central square. A total of 40 homes would be built and managed by Hyde Housing.
St James Investments has also outlined plans to redevelop the area around Preston Circus and London Road.
What should be done to revive the London Road area? Leave your comments below.
Your Say YourThe Argus
Brian Won't, Shoreham says...
1:30pm Thu 15 May 08
P, Brighton says...
1:33pm Thu 15 May 08
jo, haywards heath says...
1:34pm Thu 15 May 08
tallulah, Brighton says...
1:52pm Thu 15 May 08
helpinhand, Brighton says...
1:57pm Thu 15 May 08
Strugg-Lynn, Brighton says...
2:01pm Thu 15 May 08
Stu, Hove says...
2:09pm Thu 15 May 08
jo brown, brighton says...
2:10pm Thu 15 May 08
Nick, Brighton says...
2:14pm Thu 15 May 08
Greb, London Road says...
2:27pm Thu 15 May 08
Hugh Jarce, Scumdon Rd says...
2:43pm Thu 15 May 08
'Stashconverters'
Nick, Brighton says...
3:18pm Thu 15 May 08
Knock the whole lot down, and yep, start again. And not with an ALDI.
I reckon Harrods, Harvey Nicks or Fortnum and Mason.
I have had enough of the Scum around this part of Brighton. At least with a proper retailer, there would be proper policing to protect their new, better class of London Road Patron.
Gary, Hove says...
4:05pm Thu 15 May 08
censored, Brighton says...
4:10pm Thu 15 May 08
The Boss, Brighton says...
4:31pm Thu 15 May 08
Nice.
Tracee, London Road says...
4:45pm Thu 15 May 08
sm, says...
5:29pm Thu 15 May 08
Tracee wrote:you forgot MAcD's, CashConverters, Peacocks and a CAB.
This area is crying out for a Greggs, Nobles Amusements, a cheque cashing store, Primark, Woolworths, Superdrug, a phone unlocking shop, a Wetherspoons, Corals, a lottery outlet and an Abrakebabra. Oh, and somewhere that I can collect my giro so that I can spend it all locally. Thats it thanks, the rest can be levelled.
Eco Man, Kemp Town says...
8:10pm Thu 15 May 08
More charity shops, that's what it needs.
Gary, Leeds says...
8:23pm Thu 15 May 08
nessie, jessop says...
8:35pm Thu 15 May 08
But other places are not like London Road ! with all the passing trade and doorstep bus stops,its a perfect spot for an Aldi store,they WILL get more trade than they ever imagined.The biggest problem they'd be likely to have is shoplifters,but thats to be expected here.
Lots of people like to shop at Aldi for various odds and ends and bargains,like some of those tasty imported snacks they sell that cant be found anywhere else.Its much better than the usual same-old supermarkets because the stock always changes.Even some (very!)posh people I know think Aldi's great,and go out of their way to travel there,its not just a poor persons shop
some great stuff to be had at Aldi ! its just what London Road needs right now,its not like its going to 'lower the tone' of the place is it!? the only way is up(baby)
Frank, Brighton says...
10:22pm Thu 15 May 08
I remember when Sainsbury was just a small shop along there as my family have shopped there for about 50 years. It's a great location, just needs a bit of smartening up - the market redvelopment would be fantastic.
Andrew, Ditchling Road says...
10:52pm Thu 15 May 08
The whole area needs heavey policing . Stop and searches, harass the street drinkers and drunks (pour it straight into the gutter), makes them move on all the time, get anyone that looks like a yob up against the wall and search them, any behaviour that comes even near to breaching the peace should mean a night in the cells etc etc etc. Make it a very bad place to be if you are anything other than decent citizen. The place will be transformed in six months, and better shops and better people will come there.
Guaranteed to work - ZERO TOLERANCE - it worked in the roughest part of New York, so it will work here.
In fact lets have ZERO TOLERANCE all over Brighton , or havent you got the bottle for it Mr Chief Constable?
Gentleman Jim, Brighton says...
11:51pm Thu 15 May 08
It started to go down when M&S pulled out.
Aldi would appear to be perfect for the area as it is now,suggestion of Waitrose is unreal.
Zero Tolerance I would certainally support for a number of areas in this once great town.
Daniel, Brighton says...
1:56am Fri 16 May 08
What we need is some way to get a mass petition to the council and the police stating that the people demand a zero tolerance approach to everything thats anti social in the city of Brighton & Hove
God knows how you do it - any ideas?
Can the Argus help?
Gemma, Brighton, UK says...
2:19am Fri 16 May 08
Ok, lets take this one point at a time... I'm not sure what constitutes 'Heavy' Policing, but I know that there is currently a Police team which operates solely within the London Road/North Laine area. Although, as this is obviously a very busy area, you might not get to see them as often as you would want - join the queue. Every area of Brighton, and probably the country, thinks that it needs/deserves more Police Officers.
"Stop and searches"
'Stops' are done in their hundreds. Whenever I drive through London Road or St Peter's Church I see PCs or PCSOs taking names of groups of kids or street drinkers. I don't know what you expect the outcome to be from 'Stops' though, it certainly doesn't seem to scare anyone into behaving. 'Searches', I know, can only be conducted if the Police Officer has reason to believe that the person is currently in possession of drugs, weapons or stolen property (and no, "You look like a yob/junkie" doesn't cut it)
"harass the street drinkers and drunks (pour it straight into the gutter), makes them move on all the time"
Hours of police time are spent confiscating booze from street drinkers - where does it get us? They just get more, either from robbing people, claiming more benefit, or just by nicking it, and they're back on the street in 5 minutes. 'Moving them on' only displaces the problem, and guarenteed by the time the coppers have gone down the road they'll be back in the same place. I for one don't want all the officers in Brighton spending their entire days chasing street drinkers around town.
"get anyone that looks like a yob up against the wall and search them"
...Entirely illegal...
"any behaviour that comes even near to breaching the peace should mean a night in the cells"
...Mmm. Except the Police can only work with the laws that currently EXIST. 'Nearly breaching the peace' isn't quite an arrestable offence, and on a Friday/Saturday night, the numbers of people 'breaching the peace' on London Road would be at least in the 30s. How many officers do you think Sussex Police has on duty at any one time? Because as far as I know, its rarely more than 12 for the whole of Brighton city centre.
"etc etc etc."
Good point, well made.
"Make it a very bad place to be if you are anything other than decent citizen. The place will be transformed in six months, and better shops and better people will come there."
As this is pure guesswork and supposition masquerading as fact, its kind of hard to disagree with, but I would say, 'highly unlikely'. All the policing in the world can't move an entire community of people out and ship new ones in.
"Guaranteed to work - ZERO TOLERANCE - it worked in the roughest part of New York, so it will work here."
Hmm. Again, this is opinion that you're trying to pass off as fact. If you investigate this claim a little further, you'd find that much of the drop in the NY crime rate was attributed to 9/11 and the sense of community that followed. 'Zero tolerance' had very little real effect, and just a few years later the crime rate in those parts of town was back on the rise. And again, the Police here can only work with what the Government gives them. There's no 'three strikes' rule here, no-one gets put in prison for life, and certainly not after only three offences. You'd be highly unfortunate to get a sentence of more than 12 months for a violent crime that didn't kill someone, and even then you'd probably succeed in getting it reduced on appeal. Theft rarely gets anyone put in prison at all. Until the courts start giving out proper sentences again - (under no circumstances should someone receive a caution for rape, GBH, supply of class A) - the criminality in places like London Road will continue to flourish.
"In fact lets have ZERO TOLERANCE all over Brighton , or havent you got the bottle for it Mr Chief Constable?"
Ending on a high. Once again, this isn't something that can be determined by individual forces. Do you think they sit around thinking 'lets be soft on criminals today, I like it better when there's more of them on the streets'? If you want the Police to have more powers and resources, you should be petitioning your local MP, not spewing mindless vitriol on here. And ever consider the possibility that the Police would be able to do a better job if they were supported more by "decent citizens" such as you claim to be - rather than constantly berated and ridiculed? That seems to be a part of the American model that you've managed to overlook - can you even imagine anyone over here ever referring to the Police, Fire crews and Paramedics as 'Britain's Heroes'? No, me neither.
And no, I don't work for the Police. But I used to live with someone who did, and I think that the lack of support offered to the emergency services in this country is an utter disgrace.
Andrew, Ditchling Road says...
6:16am Fri 16 May 08
A sensible sounding post to say the least, and all this knowledge has come from just knowing a police officer? - credit is due!
If what you say is true (and Im assuming it is) it sounds rather depressing to say the least, and indicates that the only thing that works is locking people up, which seems to happen less and less.
Yep very depressing.
Anyway, got to go, Ive been invited to a vigilante meeting . . .
sm, says...
6:22am Fri 16 May 08
Not strictly true. An arrest can be effected to PREVENT a breach of the peace.
A great 'catch-all' power of arrest (breach of the peace is not actually an 'arrestable offence' but it has its own power of arrest.) So it could be done.
the rest of your post is fairly well written. B+
P State, Btn says...
7:42am Fri 16 May 08
This must be just about the most moronic statement I have read in these forums.
Gino, Portslade says...
9:08am Fri 16 May 08
sm wrote:The actual offence is "behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace". Unfortunately, this has been abused in the past by police officers who used it to arrest anyone whose lifestyle choices or skin colour they happened to dislike.
'Nearly breaching the peace' isn't quite an arrestable offence, Not strictly true. An arrest can be effected to PREVENT a breach of the peace. A great 'catch-all' power of arrest (breach of the peace is not actually an 'arrestable offence' but it has its own power of arrest.) So it could be done. the rest of your post is fairly well written. B+
Stroller, Hove says...
9:44am Fri 16 May 08
Trafalgar Street is my limit. Beyond that it is no man's land until you get to Preston Park.
!!!, Brighton says...
12:21pm Fri 16 May 08
Dr Cliff Huxtable wrote:Totally agree. I remember London Road in the 70's, when it was clean and busy. Free of chavs, drug users, alcoholics, and all the other excuses for humans this area seems to churn up. And where's the police when you need them.
"What should be done to revive the London Road area? Leave your comments below." Knock it down and start again? Get rid of the street drinkers, skag-heads and overhwhelming number of scabby little chavs and their whores? Not put another cheap and nasty shop there to encourage more cheap and nasty people? Napalm? This place always reminds me of Croydon when I have to drive down there. Do it today and I guarantee you will not see one attractive person. I Guarantee.
Sally, Brighton says...
8:57pm Fri 16 May 08
P State wrote:Touched a nerve huh?
"get anyone that looks like a yob up against the wall and search them" This must be just about the most moronic statement I have read in these forums.
Probably because you've been 'up against the wall' a few times yourself, or have you recently become an illegal 'resident' of a certain methodist church in London Road - idiot
Robert, Brighton says...
9:05pm Fri 16 May 08
What about a few suggestions as to what can be done.
Im getting fed up with hearing the Police cant do this and cant do that.
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Dr Cliff Huxtable, Enjoying some jazz flute says...
1:05pm Thu 15 May 08
Knock it down and start again? Get rid of the street drinkers, skag-heads and overhwhelming number of scabby little chavs and their whores?
Not put another cheap and nasty shop there to encourage more cheap and nasty people?
Napalm?
This place always reminds me of Croydon when I have to drive down there. Do it today and I guarantee you will not see one attractive person. I Guarantee.