However, having personally taken the trouble to contact the Aldi head office, I regret to say that I was rather taken aback, to be told that they would not be opening, until late 2009, or even possibly, early 2010! This is a bitter blow for the many elderly Hampden Park residents, who are already missing the loss of Somerfield. Many of these pensioners have no personal transport, and therefore, now have to struggle onto buses, laden with heavy shopping bags.
To have to wait for such a long time for Aldi to actually open seems grossly unfair to them. Quite frankly, I simply do not understand why they need such a long period, prior to opening their doors to the public. Even if some rebuilding work and modernisation is needed, eighteen months or more simply makes no sense at all.
I therefore urge the Hampden Park borough councillors to take up this unsatisfactory state of affairs with Aldi, in the hope that this much needed store is opened far more quickly than currently planned for.
Barrie Wennington, Selmeston Road, Eastbourne