Shoppers to get choice of coffee shops at £35 million retail park in Sheffield

Retail giant Next has been granted permission to build a coffee shop as part of its new store at St James Retail Park, on the old Norton College site, just off the Bochum Parkway, Meadowhead.

Sheffield Council has granted a lawful development certificate for the development, which Next’s agents Q&A Planning said would be accessed from the store’s entrance.

A cover letter submitted as part of the application said the coffee shop are would remain an “indivisible part of the retail unit” and would not be operated independently or outside the opening hours of the Next store.

It added: “We have obtained lawful development certificiates from other local planning authorities in similar circumstances.

“Accordingly, we believe it is clear that the proposed coffee shop would represent ancillary development that is incidental to the retail use of the application site, constituting lawful development which does not therefore require planning permission.”

Costa and Greggs are among other big names including Aldi, TK Maxx, M&S Foodhall and Pets at Home which have signed up to the £35 million scheme.

Next’s coffee shop will be built on the mezzanine level of its unit on the development, taking up eight per cent of floor space in the store.

Building work is on course to be completed in the spring, according to developer St James Securities, after which tenants will move onto the site to fit out their premises.

The full list of retails signed up to the new centre so far include Next, M&S Foodhall, Aldi, TK Maxx, Specsavers, HomeSense, Wilko, Mountain Warehouse, Shoezone, Card Factory, Greggs and Costa.

The developer claims the scheme will create 250 full-time jobs, in addition to the 124 jobs created during construction.

They believe it will complement other regeneration schemes such as the £16 million revamp of the nearby Graves Tennis and Leisure Centre and the new National Centre for Sport and Exercise.

Norton College, the largest campus owned by Sheffield College, closed in 2015 and courses moved into a new £8.8 million extension at the college’s Hillsborough site.

Stores are expected to begin tradingin the summer.

Aldi are still recruiting for store assistants at its proposed store on the site, with pay ranging between £8.85 and £10.41 an hour.

For more information on the vacancies or to apply visit www.aldirecruitment.co.uk/apply.