PUBLIC MEETINGS will be held to ask the public for their views and ideas for the Farrell Close Tesco. 

Cirencester mayor Sabrina Dixon said the town council would be holding a public consultation to ask the public for their views. 

She said: “It is up to the owners of the building to weigh up any interest from potential tenants.

“Cirencester Town Council and Cotswold District Council are currently working on a town centre masterplan and neighbourhood development plan which will jointly outline our preferences for what planning classes we would prefer existing buildings to be used for.

“These will be made public and consulted on in the new year.

“Any planning application made by the building owner or a potential tenant to change the use of the building from ‘Class E - commercial, business or service’ will go through the planning process.”

Tesco has revealed today that the closure of the large store in Cirencester has been postponed.

The Farrell Close supermarket was due to shut this month to be replaced by a smaller Express store rumoured to be in Cricklade Street.

A spokesperson for Tesco said: “Our Cirencester Superstore will remain open into 2023 due to a delay in our plans for a replacement Express store.

“We continue to support our store colleagues and are keeping them updated.”

The Standard can now confirm that the Express store will be in Cricklade Street.

Tesco has put in a planning application to Cotswold District Council for signage on the former Dorothy Perkins and Burton store.

Adam Vines, president of Cirencester Chamber of Commerce, said many town centre businesses rely on footfall from the store.

He said: “We’d like it to be developed as soon as possible so it doesn’t become vacant for too long as there are a lot of businesses within the radius of the site which rely on the current footfall.”

“This is great news for the businesses in close proximity of the Tesco store for whom the footfall will impact their sales.

"Hopefully, it will also buy some time for a regeneration plan for the area to be developed.

Ideas about what the site near Brewery Court should be used for are being posted on social media.

One comment said: “The best thing they could do to the old store is demolish the whole area and redevelop with small units and affordable housing or more parking.”

Another commenter said: “It’s the ideal site for the 20-year-long-awaited Cirencester cinema.”

A Tesco spokesperson previously said the new Express store would 'better serve the needs of customers' in the town centre.

The spokesperson said: “We have taken the difficult decision to close our Cirencester Superstore and have done so after concluding that a new Express format store would better serve the needs of customers in Cirencester town centre.

"We realise this will be unsettling for our colleagues and we will work hard to find alternative roles in our nearby stores.”