TESCO has confirmed that their store on Victoria Viaduct in Carlisle City Centre is to remain open for the foreseeable future.

In July last year, Tesco announced that the site was due for closure and that alternative sites were being looked at for a smaller Tesco Express in the city.

A Tesco spokesperson said at the time: “We have taken the difficult decision to close our Carlisle Victoria Viaduct store later this year.

“Our priority over the coming months is to support our colleagues that are affected. Wherever possible we will offer them alternative jobs within Tesco.”

Tesco have now confirmed to The News and Star that the Victoria Viaduct store is to remain open for the foreseeable future but they are looking at other sites in the city.

The store is popular with local residents and is one of the few places to buy groceries in the city centre.

The news will provide a boost to the high street which faces a number of problems with empty shop units common place in the city centre at the present time.

A Tesco spokesperson said: “We remain committed to Carlisle and we are actively looking for an alternative site for the store. In the meantime, we will keep the store open for the foreseeable future.

"Our priority remains supporting colleagues and we will keep the local community updated as soon as our plans progress.”

A recent study from the British Retail Association (BRC) said that Britain had lost 6,000 shopfronts in the past five years, with ‘crippling’ business rates and the pandemic playing a large part in our stagnating high streets.

In Carlisle there are a host of empty shop fronts in prominent places on English Street and Lowther Street, which the Chamber of Commerce called a ‘concern’.

The Victoria Viaduct store is adjacent to the citadels which are due to be the home of a multi-million-pound new campus for the University of Cumbria.

The new campus is set to be completed in 2026 and will see thousands of students using the new facilities.