Morrisons, Nantwich

Nantwich councillors have hit out at plans by a town centre supermarket to open and sell alcohol from 6am to midnight every day – including Sundays.

Morrisons on Station Road, Nantwich, has applied to Cheshire East Council to vary its premises licence, the town council was told last night (November 9).

The proposed variation from Morrisons states: “To vary the hours of the supply of alcohol and opening to 0600 to 2400 on Mondays to Sundays inclusive”.

It comes as the Government bids to relax current Sunday trading laws, which prohibit large stores from opening more than six hours on a Sunday.

The current laws date back to the 1994 Sunday Trading Act.

But Nantwich councillors have voiced concern over the Morrisons application because of its location and impact on smaller shops.

Cllr Arthur Moran said: “I’ve already spoken to residents living near there who are very concerned about this.

“We should oppose this as a council. We already have 10 empty shop units in Nantwich town centre, this is something we should be looking at, and longer supermarket opening hours will not help.”

Cllr David Marren added: “These opening hours would be resented by neighbours of the store.

“If a store opens at 6am, the delivery lorries will be arriving earlier than that, and this will be noisy and disturb people at that hour. I would be concerned by this plan.”

Nantwich Town Council clerk Ian Hope told councillors Morrisons had made a similar application to vary its licence at its other stores in Cheshire.

The council agreed to lodge an objection to Cheshire East Council over the plan.

A Morrisons spokesperson said: “We want to make shopping trips easier for customers over the busy Christmas period.

“The application to extend our opening hours from 6am to midnight will mean shoppers can visit the store at a time to suit them.”

9 Comments

  1. Who really cares!!! No-one!! Life goes on.

  2. Please raise your objections with Cheshire East IMMEDIATELY. The licensing committee meet on Sandbach at 2pm on Monday 16th. I have done so already but there is little time left. Any lawyers prepared to help out? I had a letter stating my objections have been passed to Morrisons solicitors. That doesn’t sound like a fair fight. Now, I’m not a lawyer, but surely if your application says to open from 6am-midnight 7 days a week then under current Sunday Trading laws they CANNOT be approved at all. The application must be illegal and should be thrown out. It is also a residential area, an area which changes character on Sunday afternoons once all the shoppers have left. Nantwich turns briefly into a quiet village. This will be gone forever if Osborne gets his way and changes the law (fortunately this has been kicked into the long grass for now)

  3. Typical sad people with nothing to do but complain.

    In the real world longer store hours are better for everyone staff are not forced to work it, some might preffer work weekends and have midweek off.

    Having this store open longer will not hurt any other local business… Or did morrisons suddenly start selling ROLEX watches or Bespoke Kitchens or Taylor suits.

    People who complain about this often have nothing better to do. Get a life.

    • This isn’t about having nothing better to do. Morrisons is in the centre of town in a largely residential street. Morrisons plan would mean the shop being open literally every waking minute of the day, and all the ancillary noise, pollution and traffic that results. Retail parks away from population centres can do what they like, but would you be willing to put up with your neighbours creating noise and fumes from before dawn til midnight seven days a week?

  4. James Sinstadt says:

    Nantwich is a growing town and needs supermarkets with opening hours suited to those that live in the town. It also needs alcohol on sale at hours suited to those who drink in Nantwich. I do not think opening the bar at 6AM is a wise idea

    However, I am sure if Cllr Moran likes an early morning tipple, they will get there way!

  5. The longer opening hours being proposed are surely inappropriate for an ‘in-town’ small Morrisons store. Perhaps ok for a large store (with Clothing department and a Cafe) on about-of-town retail park, but completely wrong for our small ex-safeways-size store, for all the reasons stated by the councillors.

    • Why on earth would you only allow large stores to open? Would you say it is OK for the Sainsburys to stay open? What about the Co-Op?

  6. Six hours should be enough on a Sunday to get your shopping done. It should be a day for families. The poor old workers have little choice, and that will get worse when they get their pay cut from time and a half or double time premium to just a normal day of the week. If you want a loaf of bread and a pint of milk, there are plenty of garages, including Morrisons serving the need already. The pubs have already suffered due to cheap boose and the availability of drink, surely even more access will lead to more damage to that industry and poor behaviour. It is another bang on the head for family life, the ever increasing commercialism of life rather than family values and time together. Taking kids shopping is no way to spend a Sunday, or to work unless you really want to.

    • Some of us have to work Sundays, and it rather annoying to not be able to buy anything after 4pm. Nobody is forcing people to go shopping, but I for one would like to be able to go later on a Sunday to get food. When I go up to Scotland there is no problem like this. Shops are free to open whenever they want.

      And nobody is going to be forced to work when they don’t want to. Uniquely amongst the workforce, shop workers are exempt from having to work Sundays.

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