New store opens to serve the community

The new store, located in Unit 2, The Bank, 66 Sheepcote Street opened its doors for the first time on Thursday. Despite the wet and blustery conditions both staff and customers were excited to see the store, which features a bakery, Costa Coffee and National Lottery service, finally open. 

The store’s management team shared their thoughts on the opening day and how they hope the new store can benefit the local area.  

Store Manager Ifat Hussain, said: "We are absolutely delighted to open our new Tesco Express and begin serving the local community. Our shelves will feature a wide range of fresh produce, value-packed meal deals and delicious bakery treats. I am proud to lead a fantastic team of store colleagues, 9 of whom have been newly recruited by Tesco.

"We are also thrilled to be part of the Tesco Stronger Starts grant scheme, which provides essential funding to schools to support the health and wellbeing of children."

Local schools and community groups are invited to apply for community funding through Tesco Stronger Starts, Tesco’s blue token voting scheme which sees three local projects voted on by customers in-store every three months, with first place awarded up to £1,500, second place up to £1,000 and third place up to £500. 

The new Express store will also participate in the Community Food Connection scheme, which redistributes surplus food to charities and community groups from every Tesco store at the end of each day. 

Since its launch in 2016, the Tesco Community Food Connection Scheme has donated more than 145 million meals to charities across the UK.   

This scheme is run in partnership with food redistribution charity FareShare. Each month more than one million meals’ worth of food are donated across the country.  

Local organisations can apply for grants through the Tesco website, here: tescostrongerstarts.org.uk.