Poundland East Dulwich soon to be replaced by Tesco Express

[Sue]

If there is a major restructuring of  Poundland generally, I'd be very surprised if the Lordship Lane one survived.

I wasn't one of the NIMBYs before it opened, as I like pound shops usually, but I've been disappointed with this one.

Is there any actual evidence either that it's closing or it isn't closing, apart from hearsay?

I don't read the Sun, btw, the screenshot below is from a Google search 🤣

 

 

Edited Thursday at 13:52 by Sue

[Insuflo]

That’s strange because the planning application to turn it into a Tesco Express, complete with ATM and alcohol licence is still current on the Southwark planning portal.

[Kathleen Olander]

51 minutes ago, Sue said:

Is there any actual evidence either that it's closing or it isn't closing, apart from hearsay?

No, I asked the lady on the till, she is a long term member of staff and she told me that they were not closing that store.  I then went and looked at notice on front door and it only mentions Poundland not Tesco.

Don't take my word for it though, go and ask the staff or look on the door.

[se22]

The BBC reports that the entire Poundland company has just been sold for £1 ! 

[Earl Aelfheah]

Sam99p on Walworth road has been undercutting them for some time now.

Edited Thursday at 15:01 by Earl Aelfheah

[Insuflo]

7 minutes ago, Earl Aelfheah said:

Sam99p on Walworth road has been undercutting them for some time now.

At Poundland, you’re just paying for the name. Time will tell, I suppose.

[KalamityKel]

2 hours ago, Kathleen Olander said:

No, I asked the lady on the till, she is a long term member of staff and she told me that they were not closing that store.  I then went and looked at notice on front door and it only mentions Poundland not Tesco.

Don't take my word for it though, go and ask the staff or look on the door.

What did the notice on the front door say?

The planning applications currently being considered clearly refer to Tesco Stores Ltd.  The signage for above the entrance says "Tesco Express".

I can't imagine the two companies combining in the same space 😉

 

[Kathleen Olander]

6 minutes ago, KalamityKel said:

What did the notice on the front door say?

The planning applications currently being considered clearly refer to Tesco Stores Ltd.  The signage for above the entrance says "Tesco Express".

I can't imagine the two companies combining in the same space 😉

 

It's a notice about a licence, but the only name on it is Poundland.

[LurkyMcLurker]

The person behind the till won't know about whether or not an assignment of their lease has been purchased by a company like Tesco.  Poundland was sold for a nominal fee so it's unsurprising that the location may close soon. As well, for what it's worth, someone working in the shop is likely to have their job impacted by the shop closing, so having loads of people going and asking them about the potential closing of their shop isn't really nice. "Hey, hear you'll be out of a job soon. Know much about that?"

The best resource you all should be using for queries about planning details of new shops is the council's website. As was stated on the first page of this post, there's an application lodged for multiple changes at 29-35 Lordship Lane with the client as Tesco. They wouldn't lodge these plans unless it was happening, or at least extremely likely to happen. 
 

The application is on the council's website here: https://planning.southwark.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=SVW246KBKF500&activeTab=summary 

[Twoddle]

On 27/05/2025 at 17:07, tiddles said:

The coop of Forest Hill Road is very different- cheerful and helpful staff 

Can't agree with this, some of them appear totally gormless and can't even look you in the eye or say a word when asked a straightforward question about the membership card at the till.

The only cheerful person in there is Tom and he'll proactively talk to anyone about anything. That guy deserves more.

[alice]

well they are all very nice and definitely helpful to me. 

[intexasatthe moment]

Some time ago I was at the self service till in the LL Poundland and found myself without my bank card. 

I was scrabbling to get the amount due in cash but was some 20 p short.

The manager came over and put his hand in his pocket to cover the cost .

Pretty helpful and nice in my book.

[Sue]

13 hours ago, LurkyMcLurker said:

The person behind the till won't know about whether or not an assignment of their lease has been purchased by a company like Tesco.  Poundland was sold for a nominal fee so it's unsurprising that the location may close soon. As well, for what it's worth, someone working in the shop is likely to have their job impacted by the shop closing, so having loads of people going and asking them about the potential closing of their shop isn't really nice. "Hey, hear you'll be out of a job soon. Know much about that?"

The best resource you all should be using for queries about planning details of new shops is the council's website. As was stated on the first page of this post, there's an application lodged for multiple changes at 29-35 Lordship Lane with the client as Tesco. They wouldn't lodge these plans unless it was happening, or at least extremely likely to happen. 
 

The application is on the council's website here: https://planning.southwark.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=SVW246KBKF500&activeTab=summary 

Admittedly I have not gone  through that application with a fine tooth comb, riveting though it is (thank you for posting the link).

However,  unless I have misunderstood, within the documents it says that  there are eleven properties associated with the application.

Could someone at Tesco have made a mistake with the address,  and in fact it has nothing to do with Poundland?

5 minutes ago, Sue said:

Admittedly I have not gone  through that application with a fine tooth comb, riveting though it is (thank you for posting the link).

However,  unless I have misunderstood (quite likely), within the documents it says that  there are eleven properties associated with the application.

Could someone at Tesco have made a mistake with the address,  and in fact it has nothing to do with Poundland?

Sorry, somehow I have duplicated my own post, and I'm not sure how to remove the duplicate.

DUH.

Edited Friday at 09:10 by Sue

[Kathleen Olander]

The plans on Southwark's website definitely refer to Tesco as the proposed shop.  Perhaps the member of staff is just in denial, weird.

She even followed me out of the shop where I was trying to read the notice, telling me again that Poundland was not closing,

[alice]

It does sound like she was trying to be helpful. I’m sorry you feel that’s weird.

[Kathleen Olander]

1 hour ago, alice said:

It does sound like she was trying to be helpful. I’m sorry you feel that’s weird.

How is it helpful?  All I asked was when the shop was closing down?  I'm sorry you don't find it weird, perhaps odd then?

[the_hermit]

On 12/06/2025 at 15:41, se22 said:

The BBC reports that the entire Poundland company has just been sold for £1 ! 

Actually I think they have been sold for 1 Euro.  The FT headline was  "Poundland sold for less than a pound" to much mirth.

[teddyboy23]

Went in pound shop this morning all the staff in good sprit chatty laughing

[Sue]

1 hour ago, teddyboy23 said:

Went in pound shop this morning all the staff in good sprit chatty laughing

Well if it is being replaced by a Tesco, hopefully at least some of the Poundland staff might be employed by Tesco.

If not, it would be nice if they got some sort of payoff. If the company is continuing, I don't know if they would be entitled to statutory redundancy payments, if such things still exist?

.

[LurkyMcLurker]

8 hours ago, Sue said:

However,  unless I have misunderstood, within the documents it says that  there are eleven properties associated with the application.

Could someone at Tesco have made a mistake with the address,  and in fact it has nothing to do with Poundland?

Yes it's a misunderstanding. The other properties aren't referring to other locations that Tesco will be opening up, but other properties in the immediate vicinity of the poundland. You'll notice they're flats. It's likely the spaces above and adjacent. Likely on the same parcel of land. 

They could have made a mistake, but they probably didn't. 
 

[Sue]

Just now, LurkyMcLurker said:

Yes it's a misunderstanding. The other properties aren't referring to other locations that Tesco will be opening up, but other properties in the immediate vicinity of the poundland. You'll notice they're flats. It's likely the spaces above and adjacent. Likely on the same parcel of land. 

They could have made a mistake, but they probably didn't. 
 

Ah, ok.

I only glanced at it,  and obviously didn't properly read even the tiny bit I glanced at 🤣

Sorry!

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

If I correctly paste this url in, you can see exactly what Tesco plc is proposing to do with the site: https://planning.southwark.gov.uk/online-applications/files/82A133E84D9AF5351A8B38889C17E72D/pdf/25_AP_1353-PROPOSED_ELEVATION_1-4061617.pdf

[exdulwicher]

On 12/06/2025 at 15:41, se22 said:

The BBC reports that the entire Poundland company has just been sold for £1 ! 

Buy one shop, get 824 shops free.

 

 

But I only went in for some shampoo!

[Sue]

13 minutes ago, exdulwicher said:

Buy one shop, get 824 shops free.

 

 

But I only went in for some shampoo!

That's like the cartoon of the person who goes to IKEA for tea lights, comes out laden with stuff and says "Damn, I forgot the tea lights"  😂 

[thfc2001]

On 12/06/2025 at 21:45, Twoddle said:

Can't agree with this, some of them appear totally gormless and can't even look you in the eye or say a word when asked a straightforward question about the membership card at the till.

The only cheerful person in there is Tom and he'll proactively talk to anyone about anything. That guy deserves more.

Tom is a legend, even though he supports Arsenal..