New food store set to open at former pub site in Chesterfield

The shop - located at the site of the former Wheatsheaf pub on Newbold Road - will open on Thursday, May 3.

It will have an in-store bakery and Costa coffee dispenser alongside fresh, healthy foods, meal ideas, award-winning wines and essentials.

Jamie Marshall, Co-op store manager, said: "We are delighted to have the opportunity to carry out such a significant investment in Chesterfield and we are really looking forward to serving the local community.

"Our ambition is to ensure the store is a local hub, a real asset for the community."

Rhys Doble, area manager for the Co-op, added: "The Co-op is moving forward with a clear purpose and momentum.

"We are investing in our people, stores, products and prices and have the ambition for our stores to be at the heart of local life, bringing communities together and offering our great quality products when and where shoppers need them.

"We also want customers to know that they can become a co-owner and member of their Co-op - and that we are also giving back to the community.

"Our members make a difference locally - simply by swiping their membership card when they shop with us they are raising much-needed funding for organisations in the area who contribute to improving local life."

The Co-op plans to open 100 new stores across the country in 2018.

Concern over development

When the plan to turn the pub into the store was announced, 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."

And 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."