Two contrasting supermarket chains are vying to become the new store of choice in Epsom town centre.

In the yellow corner, is Morrisons which is due to develop a store on Epsom’s gasholder site in East Street, when Scotia Gas Networks moves out of the area. 

And in the green corner, is Waitrose which is believed to be in serious discussions about creating a new store in Upper High Street, for which Epsom Council is currently considering development options.

Scotia Gas Networks has an "exclusivity agreement in place to progress a proposal" for a new Morrisons supermarket on its site - which it will soon be vacating.

Epsom Council is considering a series of options for the development of Upper High Street, Depot Road and Church Street, which are earmarked to include parking, new housing and food store.

Waitrose already has a store in The Ashley Centre, with a long lease which is due to run for a number of years, according to its manager David Beddows. 

He said Waitrose does not have a 'break clause' written into the lease and that any plans for it to leave the centre before the lease runs out would involve negotiation between it and the landlord.

Mr Beddows said: "The current Waitrose store is doing well and they have just invested substantial money into making it better."

But so keen are Morrisons and Scotia Gas Networks for the East Street development to go ahead, that both have written to every councillor at Epsom Council in the last month asking them not to allow a new Waitrose store on Upper High Street.

In his letter, Richard Swain, property development manager at Scotia Gas Networks, said: "We write to ask you to consider declining/deferring a decision on the sale of the [Upper High Street] site as we believe its sale for a food store development could hinder the future re-development of the Epsom Gasholder Site for years to come. 

"The only economically viable option for the regeneration of the Epsom Gasholder Site is to see the delivery of a mixed-use scheme anchored by a food store.

"We trust this representation will be taken into account in the determination of this decision."

In his letter, Andrew Cooper, development executive at Morrisons, said its new store would create up to 250 new jobs, hundreds of new homes, new access from East Street, enhance the town centre's parking and offer the chance to improve the outdoor sports provision at the Rainbow Leisure Centre.

He said: "With the prospect of a food retail scheme being developed on the Upper High Street site, it is highly unlikely that we would be able to progress our investment in the Gasholder Station site."

When asked about the Upper High Street development site and its current store in The Ashley Centre, a Waitrose spokesman gave a very guarded response: "We have traded in Epsom for more than 20 years and are always looking at ways we can continue to improve our service for the town, however we have no announcements at this time."

Adam Worley, Epsom’s business development manager, said he has not been involved in considering the options for the sites, but believes traffic is a major issue which must be factored in to any future discussions on developing supermarkets in the town centre.

He said: "We have significant traffic issues in the town which need to be mitigated.  Developments are in place to reduce the traffic going through. 

"You would need to make sure the stores didn’t bring the town to gridlock."

He added: "Upper High Street is quite a big development site.  Anything that goes up there has to look to drive people to that part of the town as a destination." 

An Epsom Council spokesman said: "The council is in discussions with the owner of the site at Upper High Street about the possibilities for development in a way which is compliant with the planning brief for the site. 

"This is a commercially sensitive matter and we cannot discuss it further at this stage."

What do you think?  Leave a comment below or email Hardeep Matharu on hmatharu@london.newsquest.co.uk.

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