Not the end of the Tesco row

9:38am Wednesday 2nd July 2008

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WHAT a difference a week makes. Last Monday night the Alban Arena hosted our Retailer of the Year awards night.

By the end of the night a number of retailers had told me how special the event had made them feel. How great it was that we - by we I mean the Retailer of the Year awards committee - were trying to get people back down the market, back to their bakers, green grocers and butchers.

One week on and the mood had changed more quickly than the crowd at a Gordon Brown lecture on economic stability.

The news that Tesco's proposals have been rejected will no doubt be music to the ears of most independent retailers and those living in or around London Road.

Green campaigners and motorists will, I would imagine, be as pleased as each other as the traffic the supermarket will cause would not be welcomed.

However, in the midst of the joyous scenes I fear a small point was lost.

Will the rejected proposal be enough to make the corporate giant that is Tesco go away? I think not.

This row is still in its early stages and I am not sure we should even expect an official, 100 per cent, cut and dried outcome in 2008.

The supermarket giant has spent a lot of money on these plans. It obviously feels - despite the overwhelming public and council opposition to its proposals - that it has a real chance.

It also believes the store in this location could potentially out-muscle its opponents situated elsewhere, and it has a point.

In the eyes of the applicant and not the objector, the location is possibly as good as it gets.

And let us be brutally honest for minute.

Of those who say they would never set foot in the proposed store, I would guess that less than ten per cent would keep to their word.

With a few good deals and a number of loyalty points on offer, supermarkets can break the promise of the most well-meaning protester.

I expect the appeal to be lodged shortly - what will happen from then onwards is anyone's guess.

However, during last week's awards night, a well-respected guest who knows plenty about the planning world told me: "Expect it to be rejected, then expect Tesco to appeal and then expect it to get what it wants."

THEY say many hands make light work and I certainly thought that was the case last week.

The Retailer of the Year awards evening was a huge success and the Review was and still is delighted to have played its part along with St Albans District Council and St Albans Civic Society.

As I said on the night, the evening was the culmination of one year's hard work for everybody involved and its success certainly made it all worthwhile.

There was a real sense of a community coming together and the interest both before and after the event has been nothing short of remarkable.

The Retailer of the Year committee - which consisted of myself, councillors Roma Mills, Melvyn Teare and Salih Gaygusuz, council officers Charles Baker and Maria Cutler and Eric Roberts from the civic society - certainly had its work cut out, arranging everything from the nominations to the organising of the evening itself. But it was all worthwhile.

I have received a number of calls from shopkeepers and managers asking for tips for next year's event.

One caller even requested a copy of our mystery shopper forms and offered to pay (I may put one on ebay if I get enough interest).

When we set out with this idea in April 2007 we really had no idea how it would conclude.

But the celebrations that greeted each award seemed to indicate that a feel-good-factor of sorts had been returned to retailers in this great city.

I did notice some glum faces from the runners-up but the idea was simply to get people thinking about local traders so hopefully we have all been winners.

Leading up to the event, a couple of mystery shoppers told me that the centre was buzzing with shop keepers, market traders and restauranteurs all waiting in hope and expectation for our shortlist to be published.

During the planning stage I expected the what's in it for you?' questions from the conspiracy theorists but those asking really didn't understand my reply of nothing'.

From the newspaper's point of view the evening was the right conclusion and a new beginning to our Save our Shops campaign.

If some want to believe there was or is an ulterior motive, feel free but it will be back next year and early indications are it will be bigger and better.