Tesco opens Toxteth store as part of regeneration scheme
Tesco has opened a new superstore in the troubled inner city area of Toxteth near Liverpool. Around 200 new jobs are expected to be created for people in the local area.
Toxteth, an area with a 36% unemployment rate, has been struggling with high levels of poverty and urban degradation for decades, despite ongoing government-led efforts to regenerate Toxteth after the 1981 riots. However, part of the planning agreement for the new store includes an additional investment of £600,000 from Tesco which will be used to regenerate the surrounding area.
Matt Magee, corporate affairs manager at Tesco, said: “We believe that by building a store in a district centre and employing 200 local residents, Tesco will bring support for other businesses in the Park Road area, with more people choosing to shop on Park Road rather than driving elsewhere.”
Tesco used the local job centre to fill vacancies at the new store and in the ten years it has run partnerships with job centres in similarly disadvantaged areas, the supermarket claims to have found work for over 4,500 people.
Magee added: “The Tesco store represents a massive investment in an area of Liverpool where this type of investment has been sorely lacking for nearly thirty years, and we expect wider knock on regeneration to occur as a result.”
