Possible sites have been found for what would be the city centre's first supermarket.
Town hall bosses hope to attract a big-name retailer to Manchester to make it easier for city centre dwellers to do a weekly food shop.
Great Ancoats Street or First Street - the new development plot opposite the old Hacienda site - are their preferred options, according to a town hall report.
The M.E.N. revealed earlier this year how city master-planners were hoping to attract a superstore to serve residents after discovering that most of the 20,000-strong population go outside the city centre for their weekly food shops.
The latest report to come from the town hall reveals that almost three-quarters go elsewhere – meaning stores such as Asda at Hulme and Eastlands and Sainsbury’s on Regent Road, Salford, benefit from the biggest spends.
Officers have looked at a total of nine potential sites in and around the city centre.
Central Retail Park, on Great Ancoats Street, and First Street, at the southern gateway near the Mancunian Way, are to be recommended to members of the council's executive next week.
They will be asked to put the proposals out to public consultation.
Planners want to use sites which would attract other community and leisure facilities and are close to high concentrations of residential development, boosting convenience and reducing demand for parking.
Central Retail Park would be in easy walking distance of Ancoats, one of the city's key regeneration neighbourhoods.
The owners of the tired-looking retail block would move existing occupiers to another plot, according to the report, while First Street, which will become home to a new arts and theatre space for the city in 2014, is ready for development.
Council chiefs have already hinted that major chains are interested in opening in the city centre and are expected to submit planning applications.
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Disgusting !.....Doesn't the Council think there are enough Mini Super-Markets in the City Centre all ready ?.They won't be happy until the last 'Sole Traders' have been forced out by the 'Fat Cats'....,It makes me Sick !.
Doesn't this go against our belief of supporting small businesses? The only pro I can think of is that it'll open up more jobs for young people like me who are studying and out of work.
Ancoats is still a fair distance away from the south and west areas of the city. Its still miles out!
What difference does it make to the city centre if shoppers go to Hulme or Eastlands, it's not as though MCC will miss out on any tax income from that. When I lived in the city centre I did my food shopping on Church Street (the veg stalls) or the Arndale market (the fish counter) and the shops in china town, every now and then getting other things that those places did not sell from the Tescos mini-supermarkets. That way you support your local shops, pick up some unusual items that the supermarkets don't sell and also in many cases save money. You'd be daft to plonk all your cash down in one supermarket every week and it would do very little good for the real Mancunian businesses.
Theres plenty of shops in Manchester what about all 5 tesco stores 3 co-ops 2 sainsburys and the Aldi at Ancoats surely if you cant buy the food you want from any of these shops you must be eating the wrong type of food
As a city centre dweller I do my bigger shops at Waitrose Wilmslow and now also at Booths Salford Quays. Occasionay Sainsbury's Regent Road.
Now you might say it seems daft to travel out of the city to do a big shop but you can't survive on mini-markets alon. There is just no choice in the city centre.
Smaller shops at at Waitrose Spinningfields or at a Tesco Express. The fish market at the Arndale is a weekly hit with me too.
Will there be free car parking?
There are already far too many buildings in Manchester. Instead of building new buildings on every bit of spare land they can find, why not convert some of the derelict buildings. We have a huge ugly grey monstrosity in St Peter's Square which has been derelict for years and is an eyesore. Why not pull that down and build the supermarket there, then you can leave a bit of land free of buildings for those of us who want a change from the concrete jungle that is Manchester city centre.
There's already an Aldi at the Great Ancoats site
I shop at Tesco Express on Mkt St and live near Deansgate. If there was a big supermarket I'd face the same problem of walking back with the shopping. I live in the City to avoid using the car.
After what this lot did to Piccadilly "Gardens" nothing surprises me any more
The best option would be the Dandara site bordered by Chester Road and the Mancunian Way slip road down to Princess Road. First Street is closer to the Asda and Ancoats has an Aldi already, better than nothing!
This has to be one of the most ridiculous non-stories I have ever read . There is an Aldi on Great Ancoats as well as one in the city centre on Market Street . A Booths on Salford Quays , though good luck to anybody that can afford a weeks shopping in there ! And innumerable shops spread throughout all of Manchester where you can buy just about anything .
Just because you do not have a Tesco or Asda within 500 yards of your door does not mean that you have to live on bread and water .
There is a big Asda at Eastlands, not 5 minutes from Great Ancoats Street, and there is another Asda at Hulme, not 5 minutes from First Street.
Why oh why, do we need another super market in the city centre?
Hardly Manchesters first supermarket. There used to be one on Shambles Square right in the middle of the city - before it was redeveloped.
It's a good thing with a jobs Boost, but what about the small independent retailers.?
They just get flattened by these oversized "super"markets.
Im hoping it's not Tesco that gets approval.
Manchesters first supermarket? What about the old Safeways around Shambles Square?
As long as it's not Morrisons...naffest of the big supermarkets.
Erm - do i live in this city because im pretty sure there is a tesco on market street and a sainsbury's on the corner of oxford road?
This make me really sad. I don't live in Manchester anymore - although i'm coming home shortly - but the city I live in is vibrant thanks to it's corner stores and smaller supermarkets owned and operated by individuals.
A large city centre supermarket will be a blight both in terms of it's aesthetics, the traffic problems it will present and the effect it will on the, mainky, superb regeneration of city centre neighbourhoods.
This is a move back to the bad old days and will destroy some of that good work.
And I thought the council had a plan. It was just pragmatism.
Great Idea. I'm sure that many people miss the old Lewis's Food Floor from years ago.
I live in Edmonton Alberta now and the New Sobeys(used to be owned by Co-Op) is a popular place. It caters to the many high rise dwellers in the downtown core.
You can take a look at the wes site:-
"Sobeys on 104 Street Downtown: Evolving from urban fresh to neighbourhood store"
Enjoy!!
I think it's a great idea. I'm sure that many people still miss the old Lewis's Food Floor (these days it'S Primark).
I was born in Stretford but now live in Edmonton Alberta and we have a supermarket downtown. Of course the same issues were discussed before it opened two years ago.
It is a Sobeys store (the new name for the old CO-OP).
It especially caters to high rise residents in the downtown core.
If you wish you can take look at the store on the website:-
"Sobeys on 104 Street Dowtown: Evolving from urban fresh to neighbourhood store"
Use the complete address.
Pat Dowling