Hopes for New Chiswick Supermarket Fade
Kitchen supplier takes large unit on ground floor of Empire House
The retail unit under Empire House next to the Old Packhorse
August 17, 2024
Hopes that Chiswick High Road would be getting another supermarket appear to have been dashed with a kitchen supplier poised to open in the large retail unit under Empire House.
For several years it has been hoped by some that another retailer would open once the parade of shops opposite Turnham Green was developed. However, Wren Kitchens has submitted a planning application relating to the site.
Sainsbury’s had originally intended to demolish its current store in Essex Place and open a new one with a frontage on High Road with a large-scale development on the High Road. It published designs in 2017 showing a visualisation of the store which would have stretched from Essex Place to the Old Packhorse.
However, this plan was thwarted when Lend Lease acquired the site and didn’t wish to work with the retailer on the plan.
Now owned by Great Marlborough Estates, the development, which includes the repurposing of the office tower into flats and other blocks being constructed, contains 137 housing units including 5 townhouses.
Discount retailers such as Lidl and Aldi had stated that they would like to open stores in Chiswick and there had been some speculation that the commercial space within the Chiswick Green development next to Empire House would be suitable.
Wren Kitchens is a privately owned designer, manufacturer, and retailer of fitted kitchens, and fitted bedrooms which has over 100 stores across the UK including one on Alliance Road in Acton.
A visualisation from 2017 of a Sainsbury's store from Essex Place to Acton Lane. Picture: Tate Hindle
The company employs over 4,000 people and is one of the largest employers in the Humber region with its main production facilities in Scunthorpe and Barton-upon-Humber. It is estimated that it manufactures more than 2,000 kitchens a week.
It is understood that Sainsbury’s has not abandoned plans for a redevelopment of the Chiswick store but now it would involved flats being constructed above a podium on the current site with additional residential units being built on the car park.
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