BUSINESS owners in Kendal have responded furiously to the proposed construction of a new convenience store at a busy junction on the north side of the town.

Plans were submitted to South Lakeland District Council in late June to build a Co-op on the Duke of Cumberland pub car park.

Councillors have since expressed concerns around the proposals, with one arguing the competition brought by the new shop could be ‘detrimental’ to the area's small business owners and independent traders.

Josh Macauley and Chris Moss, who announced a management takeover of the Duke around a month ago, say they were not made aware of the planning application when they took charge of the property.

They have vowed to ‘do everything we can to stop this being built and damaging our community’.

On Friday, Mr Macauley said of the plans: “We took the lease and we weren’t informed that there was any intention to put this application in.

“We absolutely do not want a convenience store on this land. It would be damaging to the community, to businesses like Harry’s Pantry, Premier, the Sandylands Spar.

"These companies are struggling to get through Covid and the last thing they need is something like this to hit their recovery.

“There’s also grossly insufficient parking on the site. There might not even be enough parking for the pub as it is, never mind with this new Co-Op.

“So many people in the area have come to us and asked for us to look at creating a family-oriented space on the Duke site.

"We won’t be able to do that if this goes ahead. There won’t be enough space - so we can kiss goodbye to that, if the plans are approved.”

The pair’s concerns are shared by a number of nearby shop owners whose livelihoods would also be threatened by the build.

Alison Knowles, manager of the Premier Express on Wildman Street, told The Gazette: “There’s no need for a Co-Op on this side of town - there are already loads of newsagents competing with each other and large supermarket outlets too.

“Why not try to build this thing in south Kendal or in the town centre instead? In the south of the town there’s very little in the way of convenience stores - people can have to walk for miles just to get a bottle of milk.”

Hillary Knaggs, owner of Burrells Newsagents, said: “I’ve owned this shop for 11 years. We’ve been through the floods after Storm Desmond, I was forced to close due to the pandemic and we’ve just reopened three weeks ago.

“So this is our latest battle. We’re just going to have to do our best to fight it and hope.”

The Co-op has been approached for comment.