Burnt down Banstead Waitrose moving to Woolworths? (From This Is Local London)

Burnt down Banstead Waitrose moving to Woolworths?

9:29am Tuesday 16th December 2008 in Where I Live By Thais Portilho-Shrimpton

Banstead's burnt out Waitrose

The burnt down Waitrose store in Banstead might operate temporarily on the Woolworth’s site in the High Street, an MP claimed.

Crispin Blunt, MP for Reigate and Banstead, said rebuilding Waitrose, after the Friday night fire which consumed the whole building, would take about two years.

He said: “Waitrose might take the Woolies site temporarily. It’s rather obvious that if a big space from a store that is closing becomes available they should take it.”

Mr Blunt also spoke of the economical impact the fire would have in Banstead.

“Waitrose acts like a magnet for the High Street so the local shops will suffer without it,” he said.

Ten fire engines, two aerial ladder platforms and over 100 men were at the scene from Friday evening until Saturday morning trying to put out the fire.

It took firefighters 15 hours to tackle the flames and the fire was only completely put out at 11.35am.

A spokeswoman for Waitrose said: “We continue to work closely with the emergency services, loss assessors and forensic experts however it is still too early to confirm the cause of the fire at our Banstead branch.

“We would like to sincerely thank the emergency services for their support, and also local residents and businesses for their patience.

“The store will be rebuilt however we are not yet in a position to understand how long that might take.

“Funds have been made available to local branch management for any urgent needs of our staff or members of the community.

“We will do everything we can to support those who need immediate help, and regret any inconvenience caused to them as well as the wider community and traders.”

According to Waitrose, all 205 employees from the Banstead branch will be relocated to nearby stores in Coulsdon, Epsom, Worcester Park and Sanderstead.