Supermarket giant to open new store on the outskirts of Bristol

SAINSBURY’S is due to open a new branch on the edge of Bristol within the next year.

Planning documents name the supermarket giant as the occupant of a retail unit at Charlton Hayes, which is a site for 2,200 new homes on the border of Patchway.

It is part of wider development plans in the area, which also include YTL’s 2,675-home neighbourhood Brabazon being built nearby at Filton Airfield.

A supermarket had already been granted permission to open at Charlton Hayes, but the name of the retailer has not before been publicised.

Sainsbury’s was mentioned in a recent application to South Gloucestershire Council, seeking to extend opening hours to between 7am and 11pm every day, including Sundays and bank holidays.

Planning conditions previously specified that the shop’s opening hours, and that of the one other retail unit in the development, would be 7am-11pm except for Sundays and bank holidays, when 8am-4pm hours were specified.

The application seeking a change stated: “At present, the permitted hours of operation on a Sunday and a bank holiday are shorter than the standard Sainsbury’s trading hours for their convenience format stores across the UK.

“Sainsbury’s customers’ expectation for this format is for the store to trade until 11pm every day of the week. It suits the retail offer and function of the store as local everyday top-up convenience shopping facilities.

“Convenience stores with these trading hours operate successfully across the UK in situations very similar to this without giving rise to issues of residential amenity.”

The application did not detail which type of Sainsbury’s would operate there, but stated that its size “will not exceed 280sq m” – suggesting it is one of the smaller Sainsbury’s Local shops.

Due to the size of the store, the Sunday Trading Act does not apply.

The council approved the change to trading hours in June.

In a statement shared with the Bristol Post, Sainsbury’s revealed that the store should open within the next year.

A spokesperson said: “We’re committed to delivering a new Sainsbury’s Local store for the residents of Charlton Hayes.”