Tesco Express to move into House of Fraser unit in Carlisle

Following the closure of the retailer’s Victoria Viaduct store, the Tesco property team have been searching for a viable space for a new convenience store.

After a private developer acquired the freehold of the building on English Street, Tesco has agreed a lease for a brand-new Express store serving the local community.

A opening date has yet to be announced for the new Tesco Express store but the area manager said that Tesco are ‘looking forward’ to announcing a date.

Dean Conway, area manager, said: “We’re really excited to be returning to Carlisle city centre.

"It’s taken a while to find the right site, but we look forward to letting the local community know once we have an opening date.

“As well as offering a wide range of great value products, we’ll also have our community programmes Stronger Starts and Community Food Connection helping to make a difference to the local community.”

The House of Fraser store, on English Street, officially closed its doors towards the end of May, ending a retail story that dates back to 1906.

Fears had been raised throughout the community that the site may have fallen into a similar situation to the city's vacant Debenhams store which closed back in 2021. 

The building itself had been purchased for £750,000 after a previous attempt of a sale at £1.25 million fell through in 2023.

Speculation has been rife as to what the future held for the iconic building in the city centre after the News & Star first broke the story that a national supermarket chain was looking at using some of the space.

Caffé Nero has also signed a new 10-year lease for its site with plans to self-contain the unit, and agents Carigiet Cowen Ltd has also received another offer from another major national high-street retailer, which currently does not have a presence in Carlisle, to take approximately 10,000 square feet of the site between the proposed supermarket and Caffé Nero.