Welcome to Wexford town's 'wilderness'
GROWING ANGER AT ABANDONED OLD TESCO SITE
The old Tesco site on Crescent Quay and inset, the interior of the building, which is being constantly ransacked.
THERE is growing anger in Wexford about the old Tesco site in Crescent Quay which has yet to be re-developed, more than three years after the supermarket moved to a new flagship store in Distillery Road.
Tesco has enjoyed huge trading success since the re-location which happened in February 2007 but its departure from the quays has left a commercial wilderness in the south end of town.
The derelict supermarket and boarded-up car park beside Lowney Mall is now home to thousands of pigeons which leave their droppings on the roofs and balconies of adjoining buildings, including the unsold luxury Stonebridge apartment complex next door on Paul Quay.
Its other frequent visitors are groups of people who break into the car park to hang out and drink alcohol and sometimes break windows in nearby premises.
The floor is littered with broken bottles, cans and debris. A rancid smell assaults the senses of passers-by. There is graffiti everywhere and weeds growing out of the gutters.
The site was supposed to be redeveloped into a shiny shopping mall with a high-profile anchor tenant, to compensate for the loss of Tesco as a retail attraction in South Main Street.
It has now emerged that design plans were drawn up and an anchor tenant secured but the proposal ran into difficulty when an issue arose about an alleged public right of way through the site.
It is understood that the matter is now in arbitration and could end up going to court.
When contacted on Monday, a spokesman in Tesco headquarters in Dublin said: 'There is an agreement for sale in place' but declined to elaborate any further.
Wexford councillor Padge Reck described the area as 'a wilderness' and said he believed the original agreement was that Tesco would build a new supermarket while a shopping mall would be built on the old site.
'My understanding is that as a quid pro quo, there was to be a substantial development at Crescent Quay incorporating shopping and leisure, to compensate for the loss of a major shopping centre in the heart of the town at that time', he said.
'I would have major fears that we are heading for serious dereliction in one of the most sensitive areas of the town – the Crescent Quay which is synonymous with the foundation of Wexford as a settlement'.
Wexford businessman Phillip Stafford who developed the nearby Stonebridge complex and multi-storey car park, described the site as 'an absolute eyesore'.
His premises is suffering continuing vandalism caused by people hanging around the site at night. He even sealed up an access point in the car park in an attempt to curtail anti-social behaviour.
Five large panes of glass at a cost of €2,000 each have been smashed in the Stonebridge development. 'It is very frustrating', he said.
He blames Tesco for the state of the site. 'Whether there is an agreement for sale or not, it is totally within their control. They have responsibility for it', he said.
- MARIA PEPPER
