Supermarket chain invests in brewery for test centre

The facility, which features 68 parking spaces and a 550-person capacity auditorium, marks the supermarket’s first official expression of interest in the site, although the scheme only has temporary permission for five years.

Last year the Yorkshire Post reported the Leeds-based chain looked set to buy the entire 22-acre site, in Hunslet, Leeds, once its five-year short term use as a gallery, green space and 900-space car park ends.

Leeds City Council’s City Plans Panel approved the proposals, which will convert part of an old warehouse block on the brewery site, at a meeting yesterday.

A council report, recommending the plans for approval, said: “The temporary re-use of the building would bring increased activity into the area, and complement the delivery of new temporary pedestrian/cycle routes and green spaces as part of the adjoining temporary car park permission, which would form part of the greened network of connections linking across the south of the city centre as envisaged by the South Bank Planning Statement.”

The scheme, however, had drawn a number of objections from neighbouring businesses and groups, including Leeds Civic Trust, Leeds City College and AQL citing “excessive” car parking and objecting to the closure of Hunslet Road. Revised plans, which would no longer close the road to cyclists and pedestrians, were submitted and no further comments were received by the council.

A spokeswoman for Carlsberg UK said: “Carlsberg UK and Asda have a long and strong trading relationship and have had for many years. As neighbours on the South Bank, this relationship will continue.”

She said Carlsberg still owns the entirety of the site and will do “for the foreseeable future” but there have been discussions with interested parties for various sections of it, though none have progressed into formal sale negotiations.

It has been suggested that discussions between the two firms resulted in the supermarket chain, based at the neighbouring Asda House, in Great Wilson Street, being given first option to buy the entire site.

This could mean that if Asda moved from its own seven-acre site, the council’s ambitions for a large city park could be realised.

Development at the brewery would fit into the planned revamp of 40 acres of land on the south side of the River Aire, known as the South Bank, to create housing, jobs and green space that was adopted by the council in 2011.

An Asda spokesman said: “We are delighted our planning application to convert an existing building on the former Tetley’s Brewery site into a training facility has been approved. The new facility will provide an improved training area for our colleagues and shows our ongoing commitment to investing in Leeds.”