Sainsbury’s in Jericho

The long-rumoured opening of a Sainbsury's branch on the corner of Walton Street and Cranham Street has been confirmed. This will be on the Lucys redevelopment on the site of the former Jericho Health Centre. While planning permission was originally for a mixture of office and shops on the ground floor, in the event Sainsbury's will take both retail units, through they are on different floor levels.

The Coop has has long held a supermarket monopoly in Walton Street. It also made robust efforts to retain this by in 2011 by opening a second branch near Clarendon Street to block a Tesco opening there. The Jericho Coop does provide a good service but  there have been concerns that its prices were higher than in other supermarkets.

At that time, there were also objections supermarket opening on the corner with Little Clarendon Street, on the grounds that this would affect the character of the area. This time, there may be less of a reaction given that this is more like a new building. Other local traders may be worried about greater competition. This is on a section of Walton Street that some traders objected to turning into into a pedestrianised zone.