Work is under way to convert the former Miss Selfridge/Topman/Topshop unit at 18-22 Victoria Street into a Tesco store in the heart of Blackpool town centre, opposite Hounds Hill shopping centre.
The unit is boarded up while extensive internal work is carried out. Planning documents say the site is earmarked for a Tesco Express and an application seeks permission for “1 internally illuminated fascia sign, 4 non illuminated fascia signs and 1 internally illuminated, double sided projecting sign”, all showing the chain’s name and branding.
Tesco Stores has applied to Blackpool Council for a premises licence to sell alcohol off the premises Monday to Sunday between 6am and midnight.
Tesco first revealed its intent to open at 18-22 Victoria Street in February 2023. At that time permission was granted for a new shopfront and external alterations including a roof lift to create a second floor, a third-floor garden roof terrace, extra doors and windows, balconies to front and rear and use of the first and second floors as eight self-contained holiday flats. Planning docs said changes to the ground floor would permit use as a Tesco Express. Two years later, the project is finally under way.
Blackpool already has five Tesco Express outlets — on Whitegate Drive, Lytham Road, Ansdell Road, Marton Drive and Westcliffe Drive — and a large Tesco hypermarket on Clifton Road, Marton, of about 150,000 sq ft with a café, petrol station and broad non-food ranges.
It is not yet known when the new Victoria Street store will open. Tesco has been approached for a comment and further details.
Local shoppers have welcomed the plans. Sean Rogers, 26, of Layton, said: "It will be good to have another decent shop in the town centre, Blackpool needs more shops."
Joyce Clare, of Bispham, said: "Any new shops in the town centre are welcome. We don't want empty shops here."
Richard Hunt, Local Democracy Reporter
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