The Co-Op, London Road, Whitemans Green

Image: © Simon Carey Taken: 20 Dec 2014

Opened in 2014 on the site of the former Ship Inn a decision that has not gone down very well with the locals. The building had been a pub for 200 years making the most of being on the old London-Brighton turnpike and was still active in the local community in 2014 when the previous landlord couple decided to sell on their retirement. The new buyer was the owner of a pub in Lingfield but whose family were property developers who made their money converting pubs into Co-Ops. After the pub closed in the summer much building work was seen but the conversion notice was only posted in October with the shop opening a few weeks later. Locals have protested vociferously about this underhand activity staging a sit in the following month and many are concerned with the future of neighbouring Image which has served as the village post office and stores for over a hundred years and sources much of its content from the locality. Another case of the major supermarkets undercutting independents and riding roughshod over the wishes of the locals - should you find yourself in the vicinity ignore the store and go next door.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0