Co-operative Food

The Rainbow supermarket which had traded from premises in Manning Road for thirty years was replaced with Co-operative Food which opened for business at premises in the Burghley Arcade complex in 2010 when the new store was given a civic opening by the Mayor of Bourne, Councillor Pet Moisey, on Wednesday 19th October.

Anglia Regional Cooperative Society had negotiated to take over the lease of the empty supermarket premises which had been vacated by Budgens in March 2008 and had been standing empty ever since.

The Rainbow supermarket had been operating in Manning Road since 1980 but in 2007, the owners announced plans to close it down and sell off the land for housing development. It was their original intention to build a new retail complex in Cherryholt Road with a frontage on South Road to include a supermarket and other outlets together with a garden centre.

The site chosen for the project was previously occupied by Opico Ltd, agricultural machinery specialists, which had relocated to other premises further down Cherryholt Road and by the summer of 2008 their former factory had been demolished and the land cleared in readiness for the new development. The scheme was however delayed firstly by problems over planning permission from South Kesteven District Council, the application subsequently being determined by the Secretary of State, and then by the slump in the national economy and the start of building work was held up.

The council also imposed conditions relating to access and parking on the site with the result that the existing junction between South Road and Cherryholt Road was expected to be widened before the new store opened for business. In the meantime, talks began with various retailers for the tenancies of three shops on the site and a cafe. The society had also agreed a deal with a firm of house builders to develop the site in Manning Road together with the former Raymond Mays garage in Spalding Road, thus creating a new housing estate on the eastern side of the town.

But in December 2009, the society announced that they would not be proceeding with their expansion plans and the Opico site had been sold to Tesco plc but this had left a doubt over the future of the Rainbow store. John Chillcott, the chief executive, told The Local newspaper (December 18th): "We have sold the site because of the collapse in property values which has made it impossible to generate interest in the retail units also planned. But there are planning implications associated with the sale of the Opico site with implications for the Rainbow store which could lead to closure and redevelopment of the site. My priority at the moment is to achieve maximum opportunity for the staff in respect of long term employment and I am confident of a favourable outcome."

Rainbow continued to operate until the autumn of 2010 when the company announced that it was taking over the vacant premises in the Burghley Arcade. Mr Chillcott said that although the name was changing, the service and standards they had delivered to the community in the past would be maintained. "We relocated quite smoothly and without any need for a closure period," he said. All 73 staff from the former Rainbow store kept their jobs.

Rainbow manager Gavin Price outside his new store.

THE END OF THE OLD RAINBOW STORE

The old Rainbow store in Manning Road (above) and demolition of the building in 2012 (below).

REVISED MAY 2012

See also

The Abbeyfields development     Budgens (now closed)