Tesco convenience store gets green light at old Iceland unit

TESCO Ireland has received planning permission to use the former Iceland unit at the New Bancroft Centre in Tallaght as a convenience store with an ancillary off licence.

The supermarket submitted a planning application to South Dublin County Council last December seeking permission for an ancillary off-licence sales area in the former Iceland unit.

In documents submitted with the application, Tesco said the intended use for the unit is a “convenience store with an ancillary alcohol sales area”.

It is noted in the application that an off licence measuring 62.46sq.m will be displayed in a consolidated and supervised area to the rear of the unit.

They also proposed a “second and much smaller alcohol sales area measuring c. 1.15sq.m securely located behind the check-out area.”

However, they stated that the sale of alcohol will “remain subsidiary” to the use of the retail unit for the sale of convenience goods.

On January 31, South Dublin County Council granted planning permission to Tesco Ireland to proceed with its plans to use the unit as a convenience store with an ancillary off licence.

The former Iceland unit has lain idle since it closed in September as part of a raft of closures around the country, after the parent company of Iceland in Ireland, Metron Stores Ltd, entered liquidation.

This followed on from staff complaining about missing wages and the air conditioning being turned off – forcing staff to work in sweltering temperatures.

When speaking to The Echo last May, a staff member from the Tallaght store said they were treated like “dirt on the shoes” of senior management, before the company ultimately left the Irish market.