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96-720: Uckfield ( / ˈ ʌ k f iː l d / ) is a town in the Wealden District of East Sussex in South East England . The town is on the River Uck , one of the tributaries of the River Ouse , on the southern edge of the Weald . "Uckfield", first recorded in writing as "Uckefeld" in 1220, is an Anglo-Saxon place name meaning "open land of a man called Ucca". It combines an Old English personal name, "Ucca" with

192-836: A parish meeting rather than a parish council. The major trunk road is the A22 , London to Eastbourne; it is crossed by the A26 Maidstone – Lewes road at Uckfield; and the A267 Tunbridge Wells to Eastbourne road. There are also three west–east roads: the A259 coastal route; next inland is the A27 Pevensey– Brighton trunk road; and further to the north the A272 cross-country route to Winchester . The East Coastway Line , serving Eastbourne and Hastings , uses

288-452: A 73-acre Suitable Alternative Natural Green Space (Sangs) nearby. In July 2015, Network Rail announced plans to upgrade the platforms at Uckfield railway station to accommodate trains with up to 12 carriages. The works were predicted to last from November 2015 until March 2016. In March 2016, developers were granted a 75 per cent reduction on the roof tax of 146 proposed homes at Mallard Drive, Ridgewood. The population of Uckfield in 1811

384-405: A large fortune through marriage, real estate acquisition and iron foundering. Their climb to wealth and prominence was a heady one: in 15th-century Sussex they were described as "yeomen", but within a generation they were already among the first rank of Sussex gentry. Church Street was at the heart of the original settlement of Uckfield, near the medieval chapel (built c.1291), which was replaced by

480-676: A lullaby in Chinese, while Albert acts as his "Lookout" (for police officers). In the coming of age play and film Beautiful Thing written by Jonathan Harvey , the main character Jamie asks Tony (the new-age lover of his mother Sandra) where they met, to which he responds "Gateways". Gateway was specifically mentioned by Victor Meldrew in One Foot in the Grave after the local newspaper erroneously reported that Victor had 'gone to ground', when in fact he had 'gone to Gateway'. In one episode of

576-779: A museum. The town developed in the High Street and in the New Town areas (the latter to the south of the original town centre). The Eversfield family, who later became prominent in Sussex history, giving their name to the prime waterfront street of St Leonards-on-Sea , first settled in Uckfield from their Surrey beginnings. The family, who later owned the mansion Denne Park in Horsham , which they represented in Parliament, acquired

672-500: A new Food Giant discount brand, with the first store opening in Nottingham in 1991. Two years later, a further chief executive, David Simons, was in the post. In May 1994, the company changed its name to Somerfield plc. According to The Guardian newspaper, the holding company almost collapsed in the 1990s under a "mountain of debt". In 1996, Somerfield plc was floated on the stock market in an initial public offering , after

768-487: A procession through the town. Uckfield is twinned with: A.F.C. Uckfield Town are the town's main football club, formed by a merger of A.F.C. Uckfield and Uckfield Town in 2014. Uckfield RFC is the town's Rugby Football Club, with a men's squad, women's squad and various junior levels from U5s to U16s. Wealden District Wealden is a local government district in East Sussex , England. Its council

864-587: A property developer, owns property in the area. He was engaged in a long-running dispute with the Ramblers' Association about a local footpath running through his land. Work came to a halt on Hamilton Palace in 2001. The singer Rag'n'Bone Man is from this town, winner of the Brit Award for Critics' Choice 2017, he had a number one single across Europe with the song " Human ". The actor Roman Griffin Davis

960-570: A ramp to access the car park and a watertight pedestrian gate that can be closed when flooding is imminent. It is hoped that this new wall will act as a reservoir to contain the flood water until it recedes, allowing the water to flow back into the river Uck, which runs alongside the carpark. Due to the positioning of the river within Uckfield, any flooding is within the lowest part of the town centre and industrial estate, and so does not affect residential areas as these are all built on higher ground. The Hempstead Meadows Nature Reserve can be accessed from

1056-435: A series of store closures was announced as Somerfield's new owners continued their restructuring activity. Some of these were poorly performing Somerfield stores and some were former Kwik Save sites that had not proved successful after being converted to Somerfield stores in 2006. Some stores were sold to other groups, including Sainsbury's , which bought five stores, while others were closed completely. In October 2006, it

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1152-695: A third tier of local government. In the parts of the district within the South Downs National Park, town planning is the responsibility of the South Downs National Park Authority . The district council appoints one of its councillors to serve on the 27-person National Park Authority. The council has been under no overall control since the 2023 election, being led by a coalition of the Liberal Democrats and Greens . The first election to

1248-610: Is a tale of Nan Tuck's Ghost , in which an old witch is said to have lived in a wood in nearby Buxted . There is an area of the wood where nothing grows, and the ghost is said to chase people who wander along Nan Tuck's Lane at night. The Picture House, an independently run three-screen cinema, was established in 1916 and is one of the oldest in England. Uckfield FM is a community radio station that supported Uckfield for its four-week festival in June and at Christmas each year. In July 2009

1344-457: Is based in Hailsham , the district's second largest town. The district also includes the towns of Crowborough , Polegate and Uckfield , along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. The district's name comes from the Weald , the landscape and ancient woodland which occupies much of the centre and north of the area. Much of the district's landscape is recognised for its beauty;

1440-492: Is from this town, he starred in the acclaimed film Jojo Rabbit , for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award. There are a number of mysteries and myths associated with the town and surrounding areas. The most well known is the disappearance of Lord Lucan , who was reportedly last seen at Grants Hill House in Uckfield. In addition, the hoax of the Piltdown Man occurred in the nearby village of Piltdown . There

1536-420: Is in the late 13th century. Uckfield developed as a stopping-off point on the pilgrimage route between Canterbury , Chichester and Lewes . The settlement began to develop around the bridging point of the river, including the locally famous Pudding Cake Lane where travellers visited a public house for slices of pudding cake; and the 15th-century Bridge Cottage , the oldest house still standing in Uckfield, now

1632-471: Is required to achieve these objectives, which has been opposed by environmental groups. At the 2011 census the district had the highest proportion of home ownership of the 37 local authorities in Surrey, Sussex and Kent. This district is entirely divided into civil parishes . The parish councils for Crowborough, Hailsham, Polegate and Uckfield take the style "town council". Some of the smaller parishes have

1728-498: Is the secondary school in the town. There are five primary schools; Harlands Primary School, Holy Cross CE Primary School, Rocks Park Primary School St Philips Catholic Primary School and Manor Primary School. The Church of England parish church is dedicated to the Holy Cross. Queen Elizabeth II made several unannounced low-profile visits to St Michael and All Angels Church, Little Horsted, which became widely known locally when

1824-822: Is the terminus of the Bluebell Railway , a heritage, steam railway line. A late medieval castle construction, moated Herstmonceux Castle , was begun in 1440. It is open to visitors and there are organised tours on a few summer days. The north of the district includes Ashdown Forest , which provided the inspiration for the Hundred Acre Wood in the Winnie the Pooh stories by A. A. Milne , who lived in Hartfield. Somerfield Somerfield ( / ˈ s ʌ m ər f iː l d / SUM -ər-feeld )

1920-557: The Forest Way and Cuckoo Trail paths along disused railway lines https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-route-on-the-national-cycle-network/route-21/ Long-distance footpaths include the: South Downs Way Monarch's Way Sussex Border Path Wealdway . Wealden is served by BBC South East and ITV Meridian broadcasting from the Heathfield TV transmitter which is situated near Heathfield . Radio stations for

2016-469: The King's Church . Emma Lee French was born in Uckfield in 1836. Frank Tuohy , prize-winning author and academic, was born in Uckfield in 1925. Uckfield was the last place Lord Lucan was seen, at Grants Hill House, the home of his friends Ian and Susan Maxwell-Scott. Lady Lucan, his wife, was born in Uckfield. The actress Marjorie Westbury lived at Maresfield near Uckfield. Nicholas van Hoogstraten ,

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2112-820: The South Downs , between which lies the Vale of Sussex, the lowlands of which are named the Pevensey Levels . The River Ouse , some of the tributaries of which originate in the district, is the border with the Lewes District ; and the River Cuckmere is wholly in Wealden. The district's coastline to the English Channel to the south is interrupted by Eastbourne . The River Rother rises on

2208-539: The "Alliance for Wealden" group, which forms the council's administration. Of the independent councillors, five sit as the "Independent Group", four form the "Independent Democrats" and two do not belong to a group. The next election is due in 2027. The council is based at the Council Offices on Vicarage Lane in Hailsham. The building was purpose-built for the council and opened in 1982. When created in 1974

2304-637: The 102 Kwik Save sites it had retained under its own name and a further 77 stores were sold to other retailers, thought to include Netto and Aldi , leaving the company to focus solely on the Somerfield brand. Subsequent to the initial sale, a further 19 Kwik Save stores were acquired by BTTF, including some of those included in the Competition Commission investigation ruling into the Safeway Compact takeover. In August 2006,

2400-503: The Co-op has become the largest community retailer, with specialities in convenience stores and smaller supermarkets . At one point in early 2007, Somerfield was also briefly surpassed in size by Waitrose . The branch of Somerfield in Wells , Somerset , England had featured prominently in the film Hot Fuzz (2007) and Somerfield branding was clearly visible. In the film the manager of

2496-623: The Co-operative Group on 2 March 2009 in a £1.57 billion deal, creating the UK's fifth-largest food retailer. The Somerfield name was replaced by the Co-operative brand in a rolling programme of store conversions ending in summer 2011. The company had its origins in a Bristol -based grocer known as J.H. Mills which was founded in 1875 and which developed a self-service supermarket chain named Gateway Foodmarkets in 1960. During

2592-555: The Company in 2003. Then in 2005, Icelandic venture capital group Baugur made an approach, while United Co-operatives and London & Regional Properties also expressed an interest, but both groups dropped out of the running. Then on 21 December 2005, Somerfield plc was acquired for £1.1 billion by a consortium consisting of Apax Partners , Barclays Capital and the Tchenguiz Family Trust , at which time

2688-504: The German-based Tchibo brand, however this ceased by 2009. In October 2004, Somerfield acquired 114 Safeway Compact stores from Morrisons , which were subsequently re branded under the Somerfield name. This deal was referred to the Competition Commission . After completing its investigation, the commission instructed Somerfield to sell 12 stores. In September 2005, Somerfield announced its intention to appeal against

2784-590: The Hailsham building and sold the Crowborough building to Crowborough Town Council in 2016. Since the last boundary changes in 2019 the council has comprised 45 councillors representing 41 wards , with each ward electing one or two councillors. Elections are held every four years. Wealden District covers two main upland areas: the section of the High Weald within East Sussex; and the eastern end of

2880-598: The Heritage Lottery Fund granted one million pounds to enable the restoration of the cottage. Work started in October 2014, with an estimated completion date of late summer 2015. The town council consists of 15 councillors, representing five wards: West ward (2 councillors); New Town (4); North (3); East (3); and Ridgewood (3). Mayoral elections take place every year. Uckfield was previously represented at Westminster by Charles Hendry, Member of Parliament for

2976-466: The Kwik Save brand. A few months later Simons resigned. The original plan to transfer all Kwik Save stores to the Somerfield branding was quickly abandoned after it became clear that many outlets were not suitable for conversion, either due to size or location. Also, the downmarket wooden shelving and poor quality fittings used by Kwik Save meant that every conversion required a full refurbishment of

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3072-483: The Old English locational term, "feld", the latter denoting open country or unencumbered ground (or, from the 10th century onwards, arable land). A number of other places in the area also contain the suffix "feld", which may be an indication of land that contrasts with the surrounding woodlands of the Weald , including in particular Ashdown Forest immediately to the north. The first mention in historical documents

3168-550: The Old Grammar School (home of the former Uckfield Grammar School , closed in 1930), Bakers Cottage and the Malt House with Malt Cottage (all built before 1700), and Church House with Andertons, Copping Hall and Milton Cottage (all 18th century). Studies suggest that the cottage dates to around 1436. Between 1500 and 1900, it was inhabited by a number of local families, including local merchants. In October 2014,

3264-643: The Somerfield Direct board. At the time, Somerfield Direct only covered the South West of England from its base in Bristol. With the incorporation of Supermarket Direct, Somerfield Direct extended its range to the London area. While other home shopping services were providing internet ordering, at this point Somerfield Direct was a catalogue and call-centre operation, chief executive Simons expressing

3360-453: The Somerfield branding, but the group continued to suffer from a disparate store portfolio, the result of numerous ill-digested acquisitions by Kwik Save prior to the Somerfield takeover. At the end of 1999, Simons, facing strong criticism from the city, announced plans to sell a third of the company's 1,400 stores. He admitted that the group had underestimated the difference between Somerfield and Kwik Save, and had failed to support and maintain

3456-601: The Vale of Sussex and has two station serving different sides of Pevensey in the district, which forms a generally suburban conurbation with Westham and a largely rural holiday and visitor coastline, Pevensey Bay . The other railway line is the Uckfield Branch Line from London Bridge. Wealden is crossed by a number of National Cycle Network routes: Route 2 (South Coast Cycle Route) https://www.sustrans.org.uk/find-a-route-on-the-national-cycle-network/route-2/ Route 21 (London to Eastbourne) which makes use of

3552-453: The Weald and flows easterly to the east of Rye Bay. The Wealden basin contains significant reserves of shale oil, totalling 4.4 billion barrels of oil in Wealden and surrounding areas according to a 2014 study, which then Business and Energy Minister Michael Fallon said "will bring jobs and business opportunities" and significantly help with UK energy self-sufficiency. Fracking in the area

3648-722: The area are: Major landmarks include the Seven Sisters and Cuckmere Haven along the coast; and the Long Man of Wilmington together with all of the paths over the South Downs National Park . Roman fortified hills can be found in the north of the area and Uckfield has a large architectural conservation area . Sheffield Park Garden is an informal landscape garden now owned by the National Trust but laid out by Capability Brown . Near to this

3744-404: The budget 'Makes Sense' range became 'Simply Value', the low calories 'Good Intentions' range became 'Healthy Choice', and the premium 'So Good' range became 'Best Ever!'. A new strapline "Giving you what you want" was introduced to reflect this. In 2005, Somerfield closed 22 of its 51 Scottish Kwik Save stores and rebranded the remainder under its own name, thus removing the Kwik Save brand from

3840-595: The business or to its head office in Manchester, to try to avoid redundancies. The takeover was officially completed on 2 March 2009. The conversion and rebranding of Somerfield stores into Coop stores took just over two years and was completed by summer 2011. Somerfield entered into a contract with ParkingEye Ltd. for the operation of store car parks, allowing customers a period of free parking and allowing ParkingEye to levy charges and retain payments from customers who overstayed their permitted parking time. The contract

3936-478: The car park (now owned by Waitrose, who took over from the Co-op) and shows classic meadows formed on the flood plain. The West Park Nature Reserve contains a wide variety of habitats; it is located on the western edge of the town. West Park is a Local Nature Reserve . It has several access points, and is a vestige of ancient parkland, containing herb rich uncultivated wet meadow, woodland, some thriving wildlife and

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4032-412: The chain up for sale. News reports valued the chain at over £1.5 billion. Somerfield appointed Citigroup to manage the sale, and a preference to sell as a going concern rather than on a piecemeal basis was reported. It emerged that four provisional bids were made. Only the Co-operative Group, the UK's largest co-operative, publicly announced purchase talks, aiming to complete due diligence for

4128-466: The chain's free Home Delivery service. In 1998, the company took over the Kwik Save chain in a £473 million transaction. Although the deal was billed as a merger of equals, Somerfield investors owned 62.5% of the enlarged group. Observers questioned whether putting together two very different businesses would solve either's problems. The initial plan was to convert most of the Kwik Save stores to

4224-512: The common toad . Regular visitors include the grey heron , in addition to its permanent residents, the coot and moorhen . Almost adjacent to the pond is Nightingale Wood. This is a cool, shady haven, containing many different tree species and is a valuable site for early purple orchids. This 22-acre Millennium Green is one of the largest. To the south of the town, in Ridgewood , the Green

4320-404: The company on the stock market within three to five years. However, the bid was highly leveraged, and it was not clear that the new company would be able to fund the necessary modernisation of the business. Some of the planned disposals of non-core businesses took longer than expected to complete. Financial strains led to the enforced departure of David Smith and other executives in 1991. In

4416-479: The company was the subject of a £2bn takeover bid from a newly formed company, Isosceles; the deal was partly financed by a pre-arranged sale of 61 Gateway stores to Asda . When Isosceles, a newly created financial group led by David Smith and backed by several big investment institutions, bid successfully for Gateway in 1989 and took the company private, the plan was to restructure the business and refocus it on what were called "middle ground" outlets, falling between

4512-543: The constituency of Wealden from 2001 until he stood down at the 2015 general election. On 7 May 2015, Nus Ghani was elected as the MP for Wealden with a majority of 22,967. In the 2017 snap general election , Ghani was re-elected with a slightly increased majority of 23,268. The town of Uckfield has grown up as a road hub, and on the crossing point of the River Uck . Traffic on the A26 between Royal Tunbridge Wells and Lewes, from

4608-426: The council inherited two main offices from its predecessors: The council's staff were initially divided between the two buildings. The council moved its Hailsham office from Cortlandt to the new Council Offices on Vicarage Lane in 1982. The Crowborough office moved to a new building on Pine Grove in 1988, with Starfield subsequently being redeveloped for housing. The council subsequently consolidated its offices at

4704-458: The council was held in 1973, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new arrangements took effect on 1 April 1974. Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows: The leaders of the council since 2001 have been: Following the 2023 election and subsequent changes of allegiance up to June 2024, the composition of the council was: The Liberal Democrats and Greens sit together as

4800-438: The court stated that the court reinforced long established legal authority for "the justice of treating a party who deliberately sets out to break the law in a serious respect, such as overloading a vessel, differently from a party who breaks the law without meaning to do so or in a way which may be minor". As an independent entity, Somerfield was the sixth largest food retailer in the UK, according to TNS Worldpanel , following

4896-494: The decision, a process delayed by a takeover bid for the chain. The Competition Appeal Tribunal upheld the commission's decision in February 2006. Somerfield therefore had to proceed with sale of the 12 stores. However, the sale of Kwik Save in February 2006 is likely to have removed the potential clashes between some of the offending stores. Retail entrepreneurs John Lovering and Bob Mackenzie made two failed bids to take over

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4992-476: The early 1970s, Gateway operated primarily in the southwest of England with a few stores elsewhere. Ford and Lock stores and S&H Pink Stamp acquisitions took place during the period when loyalty stamps were prevalent and the first freezer centres were opened. Gateway Foodmarkets was taken over by Linfood Holdings, a consortium which already owned the Frank Dee Supermarkets which operated over

5088-425: The entire estate of 900 Somerfield stores in the third quarter, but would be expected to sell a minority of stores. On 24 June, a Thomson Reuters newswire reported sources indicating that the Co-operative Group's acquisition of Somerfield could be finalised at the start of July, in a final deal worth £1.7 billion. Earlier in June, Morrisons confirmed that it was not bidding for Somerfield, but would consider

5184-496: The existing Gateway warehousing site in Bristol. Alec Monk , chief executive of the Dee Corporation, having escaped a takeover bid from Argyll Foods in 1981, decided to create his own supermarket empire. Three of the biggest acquisitions were of Key Markets Supermarkets from Fitch Lovell , International Stores , bought from British American Tobacco in 1984, and Fine Fare , bought from Associated British Foods

5280-511: The following year, a new chief executive, Bob Willett, was appointed and a decision was taken to rebrand the company's operations as Somerfield after a successful pilot scheme in 1990 with a new store and the first Somerfield store in the country being built in Burnham on Sea , Somerset , and the company then built its success upon the new brand alongside the existing Gateway and Food Giant chains. A small number of stores were also relaunched under

5376-544: The following year. The company also purchased the UK arm of the French retailer, Carrefour when the French retailer exited Britain in the late 1980s. By this time, the Dee Corporation had over 1,100 stores and nearly 12% of the market, not far behind Sainsbury's and Tesco . Most of the Dee Corporation's outlets were small, high-street stores. Monk argued that there was a future for well-run conventional supermarkets as well as

5472-593: The large out-of-town stores. However, by 1987 the Dee Corporation ran into problems, mainly because of the difficulty of integrating so many disparate businesses. Some disposals were made in that year, including the Linfood wholesaling operation. In 1988, the Dee Corporation changed its name to the Gateway Corporation, and a new retailing chief was recruited from the US. Investors remained sceptical, and in 1989

5568-457: The larger out of town superstores and smaller, inner-city neighbourhood shops; the average size of the stores was between 5,000 sq ft (460 m ) and 10,000 sq ft (930 m ). The promoters of the Isosceles bid believed that, after this disposal and extensive restructuring of the rest of the portfolio, Gateway could become a viable competitor; the intention was to re-float

5664-524: The marketplace north of the border. After the group was taken over, it was reported that the new owners found the Kwik Save chain was losing £40m per year, effectively cancelling out around 40% of the profits generated by the Somerfield division. As a result, it increased the rate of converting stores from Kwik Save to Somerfield. On 27 February 2006, Somerfield Stores Ltd sold the Kwik Save brand and 171 stores to BTTF, an investment vehicle headed by Paul Niklas, for an undisclosed sum. Somerfield re-branded

5760-458: The name Somerfield Direct in early 1999. As a call centre operated service, customers would telephone the company to order Somerfield produce, which would be delivered direct from the warehouse. After the launch, Somerfield bought Supermarket Direct in April 1999 for £3.25 million to extend the range of Somerfield Direct, and Supermarket Direct partners Dominick Scott-Flanagan and David Noble joined

5856-523: The name of the group changed to Somerfield Ltd. The aim of the new owners was to simplify the business and attract new customers. The first move was the end of the Saver Card loyalty scheme in May 2006 with promotional deals becoming available to all customers. A new point of sale was introduced to make promotions and price cuts more visible to customers. Somerfield's three own-label brands were overhauled;

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5952-537: The newsagent was asked to stock a copy of the Sporting Life . The Roman Catholic church is dedicated to Our Lady Immaculate and St Philip Neri. Uckfield Baptist Church was founded in 1785 by seceders from nearby Five Ash Down Independent Chapel , and a new building opened at the top of the High Street in 1789 (rebuilt 1874); it closed in 2005, but the congregation now meet at a school. Other churches and chapels include Methodist , Evangelical (Grange Evangelical Church in Hempstead Road), United Reformed Church and

6048-407: The north and east of England. At the time, Frank Dee Supermarkets and the larger DEE Discount stores were a business larger than Gateway and had a chain of 79 supermarkets, in 1977. In 1983, Linfood Holdings was renamed the Dee Corporation. Initial plans were proposed to utilise the distribution depots on three main sites; the thriving Frank Dee's purpose built facilities in Anlaby and Billingham, and

6144-441: The north-east to the south-west, joins with that on the A22 London – Eastbourne road around the town on its bypass ; whilst the long-distance cross-country A272 road (the old pilgrimage route) crosses them both north of the town. As the town has grown, new housing estates were developed: Hempstead Fields, Harlands Farm, Rocks Park, West Park, Manor Park and Ringles Cross among them. Parts of Uckfield, owing to its location on

6240-408: The number of new homes to be built between then and 2027. In June 2015, the Ridgewood Farm development was granted outline planning approval. The development would see 1000 new homes of which a minimum of 15 per cent would be affordable housing. The development would include a two-form primary school, a large employment space, community, health and leisure facilities and pedestrian and cycle paths, and

6336-424: The premium 'So Good' range, the low fat 'Good Intentions', and a new advertising strapline: "Good Food Made Easy". This strapline later changed several times - see the list of slogans mentioned earlier on this page. A low-price own brand label called 'Makes Sense' was introduced to compete with rival low-cost brands, such as Tesco Value. At some time in the mid-2000s, some stores started selling products labelled under

6432-423: The present parish church in 1839. It is situated on an ancient ridgeway route from the direction of Winchester in the west, to Rye and Canterbury in the east. Local hostelries along the route are the Maiden's Head, the King's Head (now the Cinque Ports) or the Spread Eagle. Uckfield was part of the Archbishop's extensive Manor of South Malling. Church Street contains a number of post-medieval buildings. These include

6528-433: The public in the arts and in particular, the arts of music, speech, drama and the visual arts". A number of local organisations/events have grown from the festival some of these include The Art Trail, The Film Society & Uckfield FM . Uckfield hold an annual torchlight carnival on the first Saturday in September. The High Street is closed in the evening and local bonfire societies, sports teams, schools and businesses join

6624-401: The purchase of any stores that are sold after the acquisition. Newspaper sources said that other major supermarket chains are also interested in such purchases. In July 2008, the Co-operative Group announced a deal to purchase Somerfield for £1.57 billion, creating the fifth largest supermarket chain in the UK. It was confirmed on 20 October 2008 that the Office of Fair Trading had approved

6720-416: The recovery had reached the point where flotation became feasible with a market value of around £600M, and the proceeds were used to repay banks that had lent to Isosceles. At the time of the flotation the company's market share had fallen to 5.3%, its lowest level for two years, but Simons claimed that the company was now clearly positioned in the market, and that the business would benefit from what he saw as

6816-420: The remains of Mesolithic settlement. Hempstead Meadows is a Local Nature Reserve. The River Uck runs through the flood plain, occupied by the Hempstead Nature Reserve, and is an important area of wetland. The area has an abundance of unusual flora and fauna, which flourish on this ideal site. A new footpath, the River walk is a recent introduction to this area. Harlands Pond, located via Mallard Drive, home of

6912-478: The river, have been subject to extensive flooding on a number of occasions, the earliest recorded being in 1852. More recent floods have occurred approximately every nine years: in 1962, 1974, 1989, 1994, 2000 and 2007, although those in 2007 were not as severe as previous floods. Local residents have long been lobbying for flood defences in the town, and when the local Somerfield became a Co-op (now Waitrose ), its car park's walls were rebuilt as flood defences with

7008-513: The sale of Somerfield under the condition that 133 stores must be sold. This process continued into 2009 with many stores changing ownership, for example to Lidl . In February 2009, it was announced that The Co-operative Group planned to close the Somerfield head office in Bristol and relocate all operations to its existing head office in Manchester . The Co-operative said that it would try to relocate as many staff as possible to other areas of

7104-452: The sale of the Kwik Save unit and the closure or sale of unprofitable stores, with 977 stores (as of January 2007). Also the fifth largest private company in the UK, Somerfield had a 3.8% share of the UK grocery market in 2007, down from 4.5% in 2006. The five larger retailers (in descending order of size) were Tesco , Asda , Sainsbury's , Morrisons and The Co-operative Group . The top four have specialities in larger superstores, while

7200-635: The size of some of their shops, using a similar format to its convenience stores. Signage was replaced with the Somerfield brand. On 16 July 2008, it was announced that Somerfield would be acquired by the Co-operative Group for £1.57 billion, subject to approval from the Office of Fair Trading . The build-up to this announcement began in late 2007, when the parent private equity consortium, that had acquired Somerfield in December 2005, put

7296-580: The south of the district includes part of the South Downs National Park , and the north of the district includes part of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty . The district has two sections of coastline, lying east and west of the neighbouring authority of Eastbourne , with the western section of coastline including the cliffs known as the Seven Sisters . The neighbouring districts are Eastbourne, Lewes , Mid Sussex , Tandridge , Sevenoaks , Tunbridge Wells and Rother . The district

7392-516: The station was granted a licence by Ofcom to become a full-time community radio station, broadcasting live to Uckfield and the surrounding areas from 1 July 2010. The station was founded by Mike Skinner, Paddy Rea, Gary King and Alan French and now has more than 80 members, who are all voluntary. In the summer of 2008, ITV's Trinny and Suzannah was filmed at the Bird in Eye studios when Mayor Louise Eastwood

7488-442: The store - simply changing the signage and uniforms would have risked dragging the carefully developed Somerfield brand downmarket. Instead, the larger Kwik Save stores were converted, some were sold or closed and the chain became a trading division of Somerfield Stores Ltd, sharing its supply chain and back office systems with Somerfield. For some years, the own brand products in Kwik Save stores were Somerfield, although this policy

7584-416: The supermarket Simon Skinner, played by Timothy Dalton , is a charming but sinister individual. The film includes a gun battle scene in the supermarket between police and staff members in full Somerfield uniforms, and a scene involving hand-to-hand combat. Simon Skinner was also injured after tripping on a miniature Somerfield lorry in a model village, landing on the model church and getting severely injured in

7680-431: The supermarket set modelled and furnished by Somerfield from 1995 to 1997. A store under its Gateway name featured briefly in the 1990 Christmas Special of Only Fools and Horses ("Rodney Come Home"), in which the store can be seen behind the main characters Del Boy and Uncle Albert as they travel up an escalator to reach the top floor of a shopping precinct, so Del Boy can sell a set of dolls that wet themselves and sing

7776-452: The throat. The Somerfield shop also appeared on BBC's Top Gear , during an interview between actor Simon Pegg and host Jeremy Clarkson . The reason the store was chosen was due to the director of the film Edgar Wright having formerly worked at the store. Wright also made an amateur film called Dead Right that had scenes in the same store which is featured on the bonus DVD editions of Hot Fuzz . The gameshow Supermarket Sweep had

7872-470: The trend back towards high-street shopping. The aim was to become the UK's strongest neighbourhood food retailer. Questions remained about whether, at a time of intense competition both from discounters and from the larger chains, Somerfield could generate adequate growth in sales and profits. In 1997, the Somerfield website was launched, which gave customers access to viewing online content such as offers, services and recipes, as well as online shopping via

7968-591: The view that "Mrs Smith in Stockport is more likely to use a handy catalogue from her supermarket than surf the Net in search for Fido's dog food". The operation launched internet ordering in July 1999, and was then rebranded as "Somerfield 24-7". At its peak the home shopping division employed 225 staff and operated from three distribution centres. However, Somerfield suffered large losses in 2000, its home shopping venture

8064-432: Was 916; in 1841, it was 1,534; in 1861, it was 1,740; in 1871, it was 2,041; in 1881, it was 2,146; in 1891, it was 2,497; in 1901, it was 2,895; in 1911, it was 3,344; in 1921, it was 3,385; and in 1931, it was 3,555. In 2001, the population had reached 13,697. Uckfield is connected to London Bridge station by Southern services on its Oxted Line via East Croydon . Until 1969, the rail link continued to Lewes; after it

8160-478: Was a chain of small to medium-sized supermarkets operating in the United Kingdom . The business started life in the 19th century as grocers J. H. Mills, and after a series of buyouts and mergers, the company became known as Gateway. A major rebranding to the created Somerfield brand started in 1990, and in 1998 the company purchased the Kwik Save chain of discount food stores. The company was taken over by

8256-512: Was closed, Uckfield became the terminus; the station building was rebuilt in 1991 to allow the removal of a level crossing. The Wealden Line Campaign hopes to reopen the closed section to Lewes. There are 20 local bus services in the Uckfield area; Brighton and Hove , CTLA, Renown Coaches, The Sussex Bus, Seaford & District and Stagecoach in Eastbourne all serve Uckfield. National Express coaches also operate to London. Uckfield College

8352-652: Was created on a site of three disused clay pits (now a SNCI) at the turn of the Millennium. East Sussex County Council completed phase one of the Uckfield Town Centre Highway Improvement Scheme (UTC-HIS) in November 2014. In January 2016, phase two of the highway improvements were started, taking approximately eight months. The scheme involved the creation of 10,000 m of retail space within the town. It also limits to 1000

8448-414: Was described as an "ill-fated foray", and development was halted that June. John von Spreckelsen, former chief executive of convenience food retailer Budgens , was brought in as chairman in April 2000. The new strategy was to keep Somerfield and Kwik Save as separate businesses, while sharing common services in such areas as information technology and corporate finance. By mid-2002 – halfway through what

8544-499: Was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 . It covered the area of two former districts, which were both abolished at the same time: The new district was named Wealden after the landscape and woodland. Wealden District Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by East Sussex County Council . The whole district is also covered by civil parishes , which form

8640-527: Was largely a matter of making the best of a very difficult job; the main problem, which had not been solved by the end of the 1980s, was to make some sense of the heterogeneous collection of stores which it had acquired through its numerous takeovers. Somerfield changed its logo in 2002 from a rectangular shape to a more contemporary design and opened several new store formats, including Somerfield Essentials and Somerfield Market Fresh. It further changed its brand image by introducing newer own-brand lines including

8736-510: Was not the case. The supermarket sought to cancel the contract due to its illegality due to deception, but the Court of Appeal ruled in 2012 that the misrepresentations in ParkingEye's process did not justify termination of the contract, noting that earlier action requesting ParkingEye to revise its debt material would have resolved the situation. There was some learning in this case, in that

8832-734: Was revealed that 40 Somerfield stores, including many retained Kwik Save branches, had been sold. These stores were mainly under-performing converted Kwik Save stores. In November 2006, the company also sold a further 12 stores to Marks & Spencer to trade under the M&;S Simply Food brand. This deal included stores in Blackheath in south-east London, Broughty Ferry in Dundee , and Petersfield and Alton in Hampshire . Having bought 140 Texaco petrol stations in 2007, Somerfield tripled

8928-409: Was reversed once it was decided to keep the brand. Somerfield's existing Food Giant discount supermarkets were rebranded as Kwik Save. It was clear that more than a hundred Somerfield and Kwik Save stores were within a mile of each other and directly competing: also customers were switching from high street to out of town shopping. Somerfield launched a home shopping pilot in the Bristol area under

9024-406: Was seen as a five-year recovery programme – the company announced a return to the black, and dividends were resumed after a two-year break, although the positioning issues remained unsolved. Somerfield was the product of opportunistic acquisitions, driven more by financial engineering than by any conception of where the company should be positioned. The focus on medium-sized high street supermarkets

9120-424: Was the star of the show. In 2014, the station was granted a five-year extension to its licence, taking "Uckfield FM's service through until 2020". As of 1 April 2022, the station expanded its FM coverage area to take in the neighbouring town of Crowborough, and has re-launched as Ashdown Radio. The festival was originally intended "as a one off Millennium year celebration", from this event it has sought to "advance

9216-539: Was to operate for a minimum of 15 months but was terminated after 6 months, leaving ParkingEye (who had funded the provision of the parking monitoring system) short on revenue due to the curtailed payment period. Somerfield argued that some parts of the ParkingEye process were deceptive, in that in that they stated that customers owed money to ParkingEye when in fact they had breached their agreement on parking duration with Somerfield and their debt lay with Somerfield, and stated that Somerfield would be taking legal action, which

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