Tesco to pay £20,000 into community fund after abandoning store sites

Tesco will pay £20,000 to support two Cambridgeshire communities affected by deserted stores, namely a “ghost site” that will never open and another that was cancelled in the early building stages.

In response, Tesco has set up a community fund that will give grants to local charities, clubs and community groups in Chatteris and Whittlesey. The former is the location of a 47,000 square foot (sq ft) store which has been shut down, that latter holds a 36,000 sq ft abandoned building site.

Payments of a similar kind are expected to manifest across the country as a result of 43 planned store closures and 49 development sites that will be left incomplete.

The plans have been driven by new chief executive Dave Lewis, in an effort to recoup Tesco’s sales and profits which have had a weak year. Along with the closures, up to 9,000 jobs are expected to be axed, as well as the company’s defined pension scheme as part of a wider plan to cut running costs by £250m.