Surprise update over new stores moving in at Northampton's under construction retail park

B&M has said it will not be moving into one of the empty units at Weedon Road Retail Park despite reports in December confirming that it would be.

The reports in December were from the construction company working on the site, Quantum Construction, which said in a press release that both Aldi and B&M would be moving in.

However, when contacting B&M for an opening date this newspaper was told by the bargain retailer that it will not be opening for business at the park.

A B&M spokesman said: “We’re always looking at lots of potential new sites at any one time as we open more than fifty brand new stores a year - this isn’t a store that’s currently on our list of confirmed sites.”

Aldi is still set to move into one of the units, which is the former Homebase store split into two shops, but the supermarket firm did not give a specific opening date.

An Aldi spokesperson said: “Construction for our new Weedon Road store is progressing well as we move towards opening later this year. This will create up to 40 jobs for the community.”

So far, the site has had its car park resurfaced and painted and the units look closer to completion from the outside looking in.

The large site had been redundant for more than a year after Homebase closed in early 2019 and Argos moved into the nearby Sainsbury's in 2018.