They call it Tesco town. It’s been 12 years since the supermarket giant moved to Middleton as part of a major regeneration project that also delivered the town’s £13m Arena - a state-of-the-art leisure and entertainment complex.
Veteran councillor Peter Williams admits it was a huge decision to welcome a sprawling retail site - complete with nearly 500 parking spaces - into the heart of the town. But he is in no doubt it was the right one.
“The net result is a lot of footfall in Middleton now,” he says. “There’s not a shop shut in the Gardens area and the footfall is massive, because we made the brave decision of putting the big supermarket that we really needed in the town centre.
