Historical Factoids 3:

[Mal]

We are all very well aware Tesco’s pulled the plug on their Bedlington branch renovation some years ago which resulted in a very down at heel looking marketplace for so long.

That aside, for the moment, I tried for years to look into the deal that was done seeing as it was reported Tesco paid £1M for the site.

(There was a covenant on the car park area which stated that it had to be used by and for the residents of the Town and the site of a weekly market if so desired. That was cancelled out, how I’m not sure but it had to be for the Tesco deal to work!)

I looked and asked questions everywhere to try and find where this money had gone. Not only that the then NCC councillor tried too and she got nowhere. There doesn’t seem to be any paper trail for this supposed money never mind where it ended up!

When Tesco finally pulled out they were paid just over £2M I believe for the site back. Not a bad return for 3 or 4 years of being in the Town!

What I did find out was that Wansbeck Life had negotiated a deal where they would take over the shops and offices which were proposed at the side of the new Tesco building because they would be included in the built at the same time.

Now it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to work out that a long lease on 6 shops and offices above might come out at say £1M for the sake of argument, and the fact that Wansbeck Life was the development arm of none other than Wansbeck District Council who were the planning authority at that time.

Just in my opinion, but the more I looked into it the more convinced I became; I think we couldn’t find any receipt of that £1M because it was used in the deal by Wansbeck Life to take over and be the landlord for those properties.

If that was the case then we lost out big time because those shops and offices were never built and we had to pay £2M to get the site back. Even better pay day for our largest supermarket chain! Almost zero cost, 3 or 4 years of trading and then a nice wedge to walk away with.

I must be wrong surly………..

If anyone reading this hasn’t read the previous posting then do so and look out for mention of Wansbeck Life!

Because of the ‘bad press’ (to say the least) Wansbeck Life eventually became Arch, now that’s a name to conjure with!

You couldn’t make this stuff up really it’s like being trapped in a recurring nightmare!