This poll is now closed.
I am sorry that Budgens is to close. I won’t miss the store but it will lead to the loss of around 30 jobs and that I regret. We are also expecting One Stop to close once redevelopment of 9 Tower Street is approved by planners. This is bad news for local jobs and bad news for local retail choice.
The end of Tower Street and the Galdeford corner is a significant retail site within our town. It is a place where many people do their daily shopping. We can only hope that another retailer replaces Budgens rather than the site lying vacant.
So, which retailer would you like to see in this store? Vote below.
Would you like to go high end – Waitrose or M&S Food? Perhaps you favour a discount retailer – a Lidl? Or somewhere in between – Sainsbury’s Local or Tesco Express?
Vote now on your choice.
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Could it be that Ludlow just doesn’t need another supermarket? Though I know people who will miss having the one just there terribly. Then there is the question of the Post Office, vitally necessary in the heart of town. That could very well be in that store, whoever takes it.
Consider a Sports Direct or even Primark Or how about splitting the site into several stores . We could have a Mc Donalds which is somewhere for the kids to hang out . A Cash Converters and convenience store with a Post Office . I think this Town works only for the wealthy and the tourist. In my view which I am confident will be shared this is an opportunity for change.
A primmark would do this town wonders wot have we got rund this town nothing
Yes perhaps we don’t need another supermarket but a Post Office is vital.
How about something community based to house say CAB, Youth Services, a Dementia Café for example, several organisations are looking for new bases…
It’s clear from the various supermarket occupants of this site that none of them offered anything that couldn’t already be obtained elsewhere in the town. (Might this perhaps make the Rocks Green supermarket proposal unnecessary, as the adjacent Galdeford sites are now available?) Whatever may come here should address a gap in the market, whether that be food or something else, but must also be something the majority of people will need or want to visit, otherwise this end of the town will wither.
I would go for Lid.Aldi or Netto. They bring in people from out of the region and therefore bring in trade.
Netto have ceased trading so no go there.On a broader point How does this affect the Rocks Green Proposal surely theirs not enough trade in the town to warrant it ?
Waitrose. They do damn fine coffee.
It could be that a clothing shop is what Ludlow needs. something that provides affordable items so that people don’t feel that they need to travel to Shrewsbury or Kidderminster. Whatever comes out of this the future of
Depends on who will take up the Rocks Green supermarket – if the latter is going to be a ‘cheaper’ store, then perhaps M&S (mixture of food and clothing/department store) would be good to have on Galdeford? Failing that, a Sainsburys Local..?
I was looking forward to the idea of a Tuffins store and petrol station at Bromfield Road, but that development is now probably not going to happen with a larger supermarket and petrol station at Rocks Green? Would Tuffins go for the larger supermarket at Rocks Green or is that too much for them?
Lets us for once in this town be radical.. Knock it down replace it with a multi-storey carpark . Then build a shopping centre such as Pride Hill in Shrewsbury on the existing carpark to include everything and anything whilst creating a 1000 jobs to the town……..
Lets look forward and build on our past. Ludlow was once a Major centre for trade why not again ..!!??
Waitrose WILL damage our indy shops. But we need the competition to TESCO. So maybe a Sainsbury local. Could the store not be split? To allow a small supermarket and maybe another retailer. (Or indeed the Post Office). ONE STOP is owned by TESCO and its prices are around 10% higher, but it provide the post office. The PO does not come free
How about a Millets or other similar walking, clothing shop?
Fortnum and Mason is Obviously the answer .The Queens Grocer would be well at home in our well heeled town.
Is this another of Bodder’s hooky polls?! Besides, it needn’t be a food retailer at all. Maybe best if not. But find a tenant first. They were no takers in 18 months when up for sale last time. Not the best of sites. Periphery of town centre. Beyond the tourist footfall. Charged parking. No room for expansion. Sub-prime clientele. Small warehouse. Poor service bay access.
Will it even be retail? Developers will be thinking :- pull it down. Build another sheltered housing complex for wealthy retirees. Just what Ludlow needs!
Some of the low end retailers suggested above will not attract people into town, M&S Food or Waitrose certainly would. We already have ALDI but no upmarket supermarket. We need to bring outside money into town rather than spread existing spending more thinly.
The closure of Budgen’s must put the “Blackfriars” proposed development of a mega supermarket at Rocks Lane into doubt. Yet few realise that this application is just totally speculative they have no client. Blackfriars will hope only to get planning and then sell of to the next fly by night. Take the money and run.
It is a huge pity to lose Budgen’s after such a short time in town yet it comes as no surprise.
It is clear we don’t need another supermarket but we do need a multi national rather than an independent trader. We don’t want to see the building standing empty. As all the youth services are closing in Ludlow wouldn’t it be a brave and decisive vote by the Council to consider a McDonalds. Especially as they support local projects. The location is good. Shrewsbury manage it very well. It would certainly bring young families into the town who can’t afford to eat at any other restaurant in the town.
Personally, I would like to see an M&S or Waitrose apart from that I think they would kill the independent shops and the character of our town. So, to better balance the town, I would favour perhaps a LIDL or a Sainsbury Local (harbouring a Post Office)…or maybe even a Matalan to serve the call for a lower priced clothing outlet.
Given that Budgens lasted a few months, I believe this negates the speculative supermarket proposal at Rock’s Green.
Anyone wish to add their name against the proposal may do so at:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/523/448/918/stop-ludlow-rocks-green-supermarket-development-from-destroying-ludlow/
Poundland or Home Bargains
Iceland. B&M or home bargains
Aldi – Low End
Tesco – Mid Range
Waitrose/M&S – High End
To me it appears a no brainer! Bridgnorth and Oswestry both have an M&S food hall, so Ludlow would be ideally placed to have one.
However, you have to ask, is there any reason why we need a supermarket at all?
Were the high business rates (£96,000 per annum) or the lack of foot fall through the Budgens store, the main reason for closure?
We certainly need a post office, as for a supermarket I believe there is a role for a high end one selling more than the basic offering (M&S or Waitrose come to mind). The worst situation would be an empty shop and even worse a multi-national like Macdonalds or other cheap and cheerful trader. This part of town is well used and many people park at Smithfield car park and walk into town right past the current OneStop and Budgens.
We need an AFFORDABLE clothes shop that covers men, women and children clothes and shoes
I would like to see a reasonable clothes store i.e Primark or supermarket company clothes. There is nothing of that description in Ludlow/Leominster. We have 4 food retailers in town and there is One Stop next door for milk etc.,and Post Office. People cannot always afford to go to Hereford/Shrewsbury/Kidderminster to get reasonable priced clothes etc.,and not everyone in Ludlow and surrounding areas are rich.
iceland
Some how I don’t think you will get anyone with the rent and rates combined near £600.000 that’s before you staffed it and paid utility bills etc you need to make a million plus a year profit just to open the door so that would mean excess of £3 to 4 million turn over just to stand still. now if the parking was free for up to 2 hours then you may stand a chance. and get rid of the parking police who prey on people in evening for easy pickings to line the pocket of a private company
The “parking police” (Community Enforcement Officers) are employed by Shropshire Council and no private comoanies are involved.
Not another supermarket not charity shop or expensive clothes shop!! How about a Primark? Now that’s what I’d like to see!!
B&M or a better boots the chemist. We need the supermarket at rock green. Just cause this one is closing doesn’t mean there is no trade. Budgens were too expensive for the shoppers that went there plus no free car park like at Tesco or Aldi
An affordable children’s/teens clothes shop
We dont need another supermarket. Asda home or Primark would be ideal. Somewhere you can get children’s clothes (including school uniform) without having to traipse 30 miles for it.
Wetherspoons so that families can afford to go out for meals. Quality of food at squirrel is poor. I know a lot of people that go to leominster for Wetherspoons. Wetherspoons would bring a bit of nightlife back to Ludlow as well.
I also tend to agree that a Wetherspoons would be spot on for Ludlow at this time. It would give some “heart” to the centre of town, without us having to pay exorbitant prices – would be popular with locals and tourists alike!
Wethespoon’s would be a great addition to town – always popular throughout the UK for well presented meals and good selection of drinks.The Squirrel has always been very popular with locals and visitors to town, but is a fair step out of town itself – so Budgens’ old store is well situated, for a new Wetherspoons, that will be sympathetically refurbished and emerge as an “olde worlde” pub – just what the particular corner needs folks!
Please not Waitrose! They would kill this town in one fell swoop. Surely three supermarkets failing on that site within the seven years I’ve lived here is proof that a supermarket cannot thrive on that site? We must preserve the Post Office and I’d like to see something for people with less income there, perhaps as other people have suggested a Wetherspoons. But it would be nicer if it were an independent store. The Government MUST change the law on business rates which wipe out the indies. Or better still convert the plot into small workshop spaces for the many creatives who live here and can’t find or afford space elsewhere.
Primark as we have nothing in Ludlow for clothes!
Primark would be great in Ludlow
Primark !!!!!!
Primark I think towns useless for getting clothes an shoes etc gotta keep travelling all the time have enough super markets I think
Harrods? F&M? Debenhams?
But in reality, McDonald’s. Great job opportunities, options to improve existing qualifications. More foot fall to ” that ” end of town and would certainly encourage new businesses to move there.
Please, no more bland, over priced, middle class clothing chains. No more over priced super markets.
Alternatively, a night club / day centre / gym?
Andy
A store like Primark, for the range of cheap clothes they sell (but that’s not to say that Tesco’s or Sainsbury’s couldn’t cover the same area, which would have to include school uniforms).
There seem to be enough pubs, judging by how many of them are nearly empty during the week, but they are not open late enough (we definitely need some 1am / 2am closing) – we lose a lot of trade to Shrewsbury & Hereford because of this.
Yes, the post office needs to go there (or nearby), since it is in the town centre.
Or what about if the market was to move inside (much better when the weather is bad), freeing the market square up (extra events or even additional, town council owned parking). Or even if Budgens was knocked down to create an extension to that car park (maybe even a couple of storeys).
Please not a McDonalds! Sure, even the one in Shrewsbury has closed. And if McDs or KFC or Burger King etc ever do get planning permission for a store in Ludlow, a condition of the planning must be a collection cost to pick up rubbish marked with their symbol. Just because they have sold it does not mean they have passed across responsibility for its collection.
Alan
As parking in Ludlow now is practically impossible (unless early), I think the most beneficial thing they can do is to knock down Budgens to enlarge the Galdeford Car Park. Hopefully a new supermarket will be built at Rocks Green which will take care of the much needed alternative shopping.
Next or primark got enough food shops in this town
£1 land