The new Tesco Extra on Battlefield Road opened up today, replacing the nearby old store.

http://www.shropshirestar.co.uk/2007/04/do...at-tesco-extra/

Anyone been inside yet? I saw it from the outside a few weeks ago and it looked okay (smaller than I thought it would be). Are they selling lots of non-food items such as kitchen appliances and clothes?

I popped in a 8ish this morning to get a couple of things. Nice and quiet, although no doubt it is packed now. It is a little like the Tardis inside, the outside is very deceptive. Nothing special really, although no doubt it will further take trade away from the rest of the town.

So how much bigger is the inside floor area compared with other supermarkets in Shrewsbury such as Morrisons?

I went in Today and its really a massive store. There are plans to give it another level I hear in the pipeline. As a convenience store it obviously has everything. You would probably fit about three Morrisons in it. It was packed at 12:30. Everyone will no doubt 'knock' its size but this british company has a lead in the british retail market and is taking on Wallmart and succeeding in the States.

I went in this morning at 8am I was amazed to see that people where waiting for it to open.

Although I did not get a chance to properly look around I did think it was ok, I guess it will take a while to bed in and get used to shopping in the new store.

Now which isle are the pea's in?

According to the planning application the floor area is 8,043 square metres, about the same size as Sainsburys.

Morrisons is about 6,500 and Asda 4,700.

Okay, thanks for the info.

Yep, it sure is huge inside!

My main complaint is that they really missed a trick by not turning the crossroads with the stupid traffic lights into a roundabout.

There seems to be an awful lot of unnecessary congestion caused by the inefficient phasing of the traffic lights, which seem unable to detect if any traffic is actually approaching in a particular direction or not, and instead appear to just be using a timer...

The same goes for the other set of traffic lights where Harlescott Lane/Featherbed Lane cross the Whitchurch Road...

If you drive from the Battlefield direction towards Whitchurch Road you may notice three lanes.

One goes to the right for Harlescott Lane the other two are left lane for Featherbed Lane/straight on and in the middle another lane for straight on that is very short once you pass through the lights and merges into the main Whitchurch Road.

It was only time before someone cut another motorist up and on Thursday there was a minor three car bump there.

I suppose it was only a matter of time.

I'd agree about the roundabout in palce of the lights I think the planners chose with a pin the day Tescos plans were decided! I have been cut-up from someone taking the far right lane going into town at the Harlescott lights. There seems to be far more traffic now in that area since Tescos has opened. Anyone got an aerial shot ?

A roundabout has been considered for that spot on a number of occassions but it has been decided that it would have to be huge to deal with the amount of traffic - it would therefore have to take in land currently occupied by a house or two, the Lidl car park, etc AND a roundabout there would turn that area even more into Telford Mk II!

If a roundabout isn't an option, then opening an entrance/exit to Tesco's up through to Harlescott Lane would be better, as at least that would be two entrances/exits into Tesco's rather than the bottleneck there is currently at the traffic lights near the Sundorne retail park.

Currently there are a set of bollards plus a high kerb with a suspension-damaging drop that you would have to navigate if you wanted to leave Tesco's and got fed up with the queues waiting for the traffic lights and wanted to fast-track your way onto Harlescott Lane instead... that would bring you out by the back of that row of shops where there is HSBC... seems daft that the bollards and the drop are there - more myopic planning if you ask me...

Do the Park and Ride buses and lorries for Tesco not already go via a new road that links to Harlescott Lane rather than Battlefield Road?

:o

Went to the new Tesco yesterday. The layout of the store is shocking. I know it is probably a case of not being used to it, but it is completely different than most supermarkets. I went in wondering where the hell the food was! They do sell some white goods, such as washing machines and fridges, as well as lots of electrical and entertainment items. The actual food section is smaller than the food area in Morrisons or Sainsbury's as far as I could tell. The cafe is cheap though and does some food.

David and Golliath side by side, still prefer David,ie Lidl .

I seem to remember there being a possibility of those shops being relocated but this was stamped upon by Councillor Margaret Sandford. Presumably this would have been for a better highway solution.

Now the Chronicle reports that Lidl have put up a large advertisment board, totally against the wishes of the council but apparently legal and that this is a clear 'two fingers' to SABC. Hardly surprising when you see the way the firm was treated by the planning committee and how long the permission took.

Its easy really David when you enter the store think...non-food on the right, food on the left.