Chesterfield pub reduced to rubble

The site of the former Wheatsheaf on Newbold Road will be transformed into a Co-operative food shop after Chesterfield Borough Council approved the plan last year.

A spokesman for NewRiver Retail - which is the company behind the development - said: "The community food store will result in a number of benefits for Newbold and the local economy.

"There will be a high-quality new, small convenience store in a convenient, accessible and sustainable location and there will be the creation of up to 20 new jobs, likely to be attractive to residents of the area.

"The food store constitutes an inward investment of more than £1million.

"It will enhance the range of local facilities and amenities and help to ensure that a higher proportion of locally-generated retail expenditure is spent within the area."

Objecting to the proposal, one resident said: "There is an existing Tesco store 250 metres away on Newbold Road and a Central England Co-operative 300 metres away on Littlemoor.

"Three identical stores so close together suggests that one of them might need to close in a year or two."

When the plan was approved, Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins said: "This is very sad news.

"Pubs which are trading successfully as going concerns being closed because they are more profitable as convenience stores is a real shame, particularly when that area is well served with three such shops within 600 yards or so of there."

The former Spital pub in Spital Lane, Chesterfield, was turned into a Co-operative food store after that proposal was also approved by the borough council at the start of last year.

In 2014, the Co-operative signed an agreement to develop 54 pub sites from the Marston's public house portfolio owned by NewRiver Retail.