Proposed Asda Store - how the £20m Asda store is expected to look when it is finished in December, 2005.

THIS is how a £20m Asda store could look now councillors have granted planning permission although other traders have mixed feelings.

The artist's impressions of the planned supermarket off Washbrook Road, Rushden, shows how the store would affect the town centre landscape.

The store has been granted planning permission by East Northamptonshire Council's planning committee.
Richard Petyt, senior development surveyor for Asda, said: "Asda has a great deal to offer. We will become an enthusiastic member of the community and aim to take an active role in the future and growth of Rushden."

The store will provide 350 jobs, 250 of which will be full-time, and there will be 334 parking spaces.
But businesses in Rushden have given a mixed reaction to the news.

David Seabrook, owner of Seabrook's greengrocer's in High Street, said he did not think the opening of Asda would affect his trade but felt there were too many supermarkets in Rushden already.

Mr Seabrook said: "We sell home-grown stuff and have built up a good reputation over the years, so the people that have always come to us over the years will still come.

"But I do not think we need another supermarket - there are far too many already, and it would have been much better to build houses there."

Jim Osborne, owner of Osborne's toy shop, said he was keeping an open mind about the planned store.
He said: "It is unusual for a big site like that in the town centre to be taken over by a big store like Asda, but time will tell as to how it will affect trade."

The Rushden Town Centre Users Group of business and community leaders issued a statement to the planning committee welcoming the Asda plans.

It said: "Rushden is recognised as an attractive location for retailing. We need to make the most of development."

Work on the store should be complete by December next year.

Taken from the parapet of the old railway bridge, looking North - the former Marriott's and Royal Theatre site. Part of the land was used for the annual Feast c1904-10 - Blue Plaque No2 was moved and now displayed in the foyer.
Photos courtesy of Mervyn Wood, 2004

In 2016 Asda bought the Bridge Service Station, and rebuilt it as a petrol station.