Extract from planning report considered 1st October 1997. The old Waitrose supermarket was built in 1968 on a cleared site. It could not compete with the new out of centre stores in the Guildford Borough area, such as Sainsburys and Tesco, and in 1990, permission was sought for a major development on the existing site. The application was withdrawn before being considered by the Planning Committee. Shortly afterwards, Sainsburys obtained permission for their store at the Wharf and Waitrose bought the old Co-Op site.
Fact sheets are available for the development of both the above sites.
The old Waitrose building is two storied with a floor area of 2000 sq.m. It is built around 3 sides of a service courtyard. The site is located within the heart of the Godalming Conservation area. This is roughly the area last used as a supermarket. J.D Wetherspoons were named as the tenant for the A3 use.