Morrisons to expand in Morpeth as new town centre development gets underway

Morrisons to expand in Morpeth as new town centre development gets underway

24 November 2011

It has been announced that Morrisons will be relocating in Morpeth to a state-of-the-art 50,000 sq ft foodstore at Low Stanners, on a site currently being redeveloped by Dransfield Properties Ltd.

The development has created an opportunity for Morrisons to relocate from its current Stanley Terrace site and to provide the shoppers of Morpeth with greater choice and a full range of fresh produce.

With a sales area of 25,000 sq ft, the new store will incorporate Morrisons unique Market Street fresh food counters including butchers, bakers and fishmongers.  Staff at the existing store will transfer to the new store when it opens and new local job opportunities will be created in this attractive town centre location.

Contractors, Tolent, started work on the Low Stanners site this week and once the main building work is completed in November 2012, Morrisons will fit out their brand new store, which will be opened in the Spring of 2013.

Morpeth’s existing Morrisons store was originally built as a Safeway supermarket and later converted to Morrisons. The new development offers the opportunity to bring a full Morrisons offer to the town, with a modern layout and design as well as much more choice for shoppers. Northumberland County Council approved the plans in July this year.

Morrisons Development Executive, Andrew Wood, said: “This new foodstore represents a considerable investment and commitment to shoppers in Morpeth. This larger store will enable us to offer our full range, concentrating on fresh food with great choice, great value and expert advice, all in a modern and inviting environment.”

The new foodstore development will include 283 short stay car parking spaces as well as 296 lower level long stay spaces. Strong pedestrian links to the town centre are an important part of the development as well as an attractive landscaping scheme.

As well as representing a major investment in Morpeth by Morrisons, the move from Stanley Terrace will also create an opportunity for another food retailer to open in the town centre.

Dransfield Properties Ltd Retail Property Director, Andrew Malley, said: “We are delighted to be working with Morrisions to deliver a full sized store for the company here in Morpeth and we look forward to the new store opening.

“The town’s long term success and viability depends on resisting supermarket developments out of town and the Low Stanners development has been carefully designed to deliver a good sized store with excellent links to the town centre.”

Work has also started on a new Veterinary Centre at Whorral Bank in Morpeth. The practice, Robson and Prescott, currently based at Low Stanners, is being relocated as part of the overall development.

The foodstore giant has confirmed that once they have relocated, their existing store will be sold to another operator as agreed with the Council.

Regular updates about progress on the new supermarket site will be forwarded to the local press and will be available through the Dransfield Properties website at www.dransfield.co.uk

Ends

About Morrisons: The Food Specialist for Everyone: Freshness, Service and Value
We are the UK’s fourth largest food retailer with 467 stores and our business is mainly food and grocery – the weekly shop. Uniquely we source and process most of the fresh food that we sell though our own manufacturing facilities, giving us close control over provenance and quality. We only sell 100% British fresh beef, lamb, pork and poultry and we have more people preparing more food in store than any other retailer including butchers, bakers and fishmongers. Every week, over 11.5 million customers pass through our doors and more than 132,000 colleagues across the business work hard each day to deliver great service to them. With competitive prices and hundreds of special offers, we are proud to save our customers money every day.

For further information, contact:

Public Relations Department, Dransfield Properties Ltd
Tel: 01226 360644
Email: pr@dransfield.co.uk