The brand-new store on Kennington Lane opened its doors this morning and in addition to serving the local community with a wide range of fresh food and other supplies, the store team will also be working hard to support local charities and good causes.
Susan Micael, the store’s manager, thanked the local community for their patience while the store traded from a temporary site.
She said : “We’re looking forward to welcoming our customers and to enable them to enjoy a new shopping experience which not only features a wide range of products but our latest sustainability initiatives including LED lighting, water saving measures, energy-efficient refrigeration, ample cycle parking and electric vehicle charging points.
“Our Covid safe measures are in place and remain a priority and we’re keen to remind customers of the importance of wearing face coverings. We’re operating in line with Government guidance at all times to ensure our customers and colleagues feel safe.”
She added: “We’re also excited about encouraging our customers to take part in our community initiatives too by voting in store for local good causes that can benefit financially from our Tesco’s Community Grants scheme and donating to our Food Collection running until August 28th.
Since 2019, 49 local groups in Kennington have received £108,725 through Tesco Community Grants (previously known as Bags of Help). Projects that have benefited from the scheme include Family GenerAid Foundation’s ‘Eradicate Stigma Over Infertility’ project and Ashmole Primary School’s Counselling Service for Children.
Local groups are invited to apply for community funding through the scheme which sees three local projects voted on by customers in store every three months, with first place awarded £2,000, second place £1,000 and third place £500.
The store will also donate surplus food via the Tesco Community Food Connection scheme run in partnership with food redistribution charity FareShare. Each day Tesco redistributes surplus food from its stores across the UK to provide millions of meals to charities every year.
Ellie Wormald, Advice Centre Coordinator at Waterloo Foodbank, said: “We’ve been working with Tesco Kennington since we started Waterloo Foodbank, in 2011. Over the last decade Tesco customers have been hugely generous, donating many tonnes of food which we’ve distributed to local people in need. We look forward to continuing this partnership in the new store.”
40,947 meals have already been donated in the Kennington area through Community Food Connection.
The Oval Village redevelopment is being completed in partnership with Berkeley and once complete, will create more than 1,300 new homes, 35% of which are affordable, as well as shops, restaurants, green spaces and office space.
The redevelopment was awarded the Mayor’s Award for Good Growth and Best Mixed-Use Scheme at the Building London Planning Awards 2020.
