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1,000 jobs with Tesco in store

By David Millward
July 07, 2011

Hundreds of job hunters went to a public exhibition with the hope of bagging one of the 1,000 posts that could be created by a new Tesco warehouse in Whitley.

The supermarket giant hosted the exhibition to give nearby residents a chance to register their interest in work and to comment on the plans for the old Courage brewery site.

Tesco is aiming to put in a planning application for the massive distribution centre in Worton Grange next month.

If approved, it will create posts for drivers, mechanics, warehouse workers and maintenance staff and 100 management jobs.

Whitley man Tony Shergold was one of the first people to visit the exhibition in St Agnes Church Hall, in Northumberland Avenue, on Friday.

He said: “It seems like a good idea to bring a lot of work back into this area.

“There seems to have been a hell of a lot of jobs disappeared for Reading people so it seems a very good thing.

“I was living in East London and just moved back to Reading and it’s a case of looking for a job and this sort of thing is ideal.”

Steve Frampton, from Burghfield, was also on the lookout for work with his wife Jane.

He said: “I used to work at Whitbread just across the road from the site and got made redundant two years ago.

“The post office went down to Swindon and McDougalls went as well so a lot of drivers were dumped in one go and there has been nothing to replace any of these jobs.

“I have been travelling to Andover, Southampton, Salisbury to work and I live just outside Reading.

“This would be a big boost to the labour market in Reading.”

Melanie Chiswell, who is managing the public consultation for Tesco, said visitors to the exhibition will be top of the list for jobs if the plans go ahead.

She said: “The purpose of the exhibition is to get feedback before we submit the application next month to see how people feel about a new distribution centre in the area.

“But also it’s really important to give local people in this area and surrounding residential areas a fair chance to find out about jobs.”

More than 400 people went to the exhibition over the two days and 448 people completed response forms with 99 per cent of them supporting the proposals.

A total of 432 visitors said they were interested in a job and another 135 people had responded to a job advertisement in the local press.

Reading West MP Alok Sharma was at the opening of the exhibition on Friday.

He said: “We haven’t seen a planning application yet but in principle an extra thousand jobs, particularly in this location, is going to be very good news for local people, good news for the local economy and good news for local businesses that will also service the site.”

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HOW CAN WE APPLY FOR THESE JOBS ON LINE. ALL THESE 1000'0 OF JOBS

tippu, reading
08/03/2012 at 09:36

In answer to ironmanMK111 surely the best people will get the jobs, hopefully local people will turn out to be the best, if not surely they only have themselves to blame.

Peter B, Northampton
13/07/2011 at 21:14

Great Tescos is in the news again. No suprise. How many of these jobs will be given to the hard working folk of Reading. We'll probably get an increase of European job hunters soon, with most of the jobs being given to them. That's just great news.

Ironman MKIII, Location Classified
12/07/2011 at 20:11

!000 jobs ........................perhaps Diago from Caversham could manage to get just one of these !!!!!!

Howard Thomas Common Sense party
08/07/2011 at 18:38

In answer to Tim Davies I can tell you If a Distribution center is closed as a result of a new DC then staff at the old one will be offered jobs, if one is not closed then NO Tesco staff would have priority. Even if staff are offered I can tell you that very very few take up the offer which will mean the vast vast majority of new jobs will be offered to people living in the area of the new Distribution Center. Take it from me it is a grrat company to work for with fabulous benefits and great pay. Good luck to prospective new employees.

Peter B, Northampton
07/07/2011 at 14:37

This was on the TV news days ago, why does it take so long to publish it on here?

wigglebottom
07/07/2011 at 12:09

Tesco are building these mega-sheds as there older distribution centres are now not able to cope with the new stores/express stores they are building,but for every new centre they open, others will cllose, there is one at Weybridge that is out-dated this will close for sure, and others in the south of England, these staff will be offered these jobs first, plus staff at the stores that woulld like to move, so for Melanie Chiswell, who is managing the public consultation for Tesco to say visitors to the exhibition will be top of the list for jobs if the plans go ahead is well, maybe not the whole truth.

tim davies
07/07/2011 at 11:05

Reading West MP Alok Sharma actually visited Whitley - amazing.

Good point about the number of full time jobs but any increase in jobs in South Reading is a good thing.

NotJohn, Reading
07/07/2011 at 10:14

The whole of Europ now will decend on Reading for those jobs lol.

cav007, Caversham
07/07/2011 at 10:11

1,000 jobs is such a feel good headline for Tesco but has no one thought to ask how many of those jobs will actually be full time? Over the years the likes of Tesco have actually decreased the number of full time jobs despite opening new stores and warehouses. Perhaps David Millward would like to ask the question, some journalism instead of a press release would be nice....