New Lincolnshire Co-op opens in Collingham
A new Lincolnshire Co-op supermarket opened at 7am on Friday – the last phase of a multi-million pound project to create a community hub in Collingham.
The outlet is three times bigger than the society’s old store, off the village’s High Street, and new features include an in-store bakery and a local deli-to-go stocking goods like ham, cheese, pies and quiches from small-scale producers.
The store will be open from 7am until 10pm Monday to Saturday and from 10am until 4pm on Sundays. Customers can look forward to a much larger range of fresh foods and a wider variety of local meat.
Collingham is also the first of Lincolnshire Co-op’s stores to have a dedicated area for fine wines.
A new coffee shop offers tea and coffee provided by Stokes of Lincoln and dishes made with local ingredients, from a full English breakfast to a light lunch.
To celebrate, the store’s first 100 customers received a free bunch of flowers.
Festivities will continue with a free ice rink and hog roast on Saturday and a Halloween event with a children’s entertainer on Saturday October 31.
Twelve new full and part-time roles have been created joining the existing 18-strong team.
New parking spaces
The £2.5m scheme has also improved the layout of the site for visitors to the store and other local facilities, including Collingham Medical Centre.
More than 100 new parking spaces have been created, plus a new service entrance off Station Road to make deliveries to the store easier.
As part of the project, Lincolnshire Co-op funded the creation of a new all-weather multi-use games area on land between John Blow Primary School and Collingham Football Club’s senior pitch.
A donation was also made to Collingham Cricket Club to put towards funds for the completion of an additional pavilion.
Collingham Parish Council clerk Caron Ballantyne said: “The opening of the new store will continue to offer local services to our growing community, whilst further complementing the many independent shops in the village.”
