Peterlee - Economy

Economy

Peterlee has seen a number of changes in the last several years, this includes a bus station and also a partial indoor conversion of the shopping centre, which was given the name Castle Dene Shopping Centre. An ASDA supermarket was built and opened in November 2001. The old ASDA supermarket which was previously a Fine Fare and a Gateway has been utilised by various retailers in 2002 including a Bingo hall and a JD Wetherspoon public house, a Wilkinson store and a Poundworld store.

Recent redevelopments include a number of new clothes shops including New Look. Retailers such as Sports Direct and Carpetright have replaced Safeway. The town also has an Argos, Boots and various shoe shops plus a couple of places serving home-made food. After the removal of the old ramp and steps, a lift and staircase were installed in the market square of the town restoring access to ASDA and various shops and services on the top level. A Gamestation shop opened in February 2007. The lower deck carpark near ASDA is used on Bank Holidays for a market. In 2009, the town centre has recently finished further development with a B&M Bargains store built on the plot that once housed Michael O'Connor; Grainger Games has also opened a store in the town centre. ASDA has recently expanded the store with the opening of a second floor that houses clothing and a cafe. A Subway (restaurant) now shares with the Post Office. The old Woolworths shop was briefly occupied by Poundland, however the shop is vacant once again. The Sports Direct store also has closing down signs up. New signage has been erected throughout the shopping centre. Recently, The Bon Marche clothing shop has been replaced by an ex-catalogue shop.

In October 2009 it was announced that three different developers were interested in opening three new supermarkets. Tesco announced they wanted to build a Tesco Extra store on the site of the old East Durham College, this includes replacing the existing library; North Blunts Limited announced they wanted to build a Morrisons on the site of the old North Blunts School. Kenmore who are the owners of Castle Dene Shopping Centre announced they wanted to build a new supermarket, a new health centre and a new youth centre; these would be built on the site of the current health centre, the youth centre, the sorting office, Argos, Sports Direct, Walter Wall and Coral. After much campaigning from the three parties for planning permission, Durham County Council announced in June 2011 that the plans for Tesco and the new supermarket in Castle Dene were approved but Morrisons was rejected. It has not been currently announced what the new supermarket in Castle Dene will be. It has been announced that Argos, Sports Direct, Walter Wall and Coral will be relocated to another part of Castle Dene but the temporary relocations of the health centre, the youth centre and the sorting office have not been currently announced.

The two new supermarkets will bring more choice for the residents of Peterlee and the surrounding villages as ASDA is the only large supermarket in Peterlee since Safeway closed in 2005 and the nearest other supermarkets such Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons are in Hartlepool.