Sandhurst's shops, pubs and businesses changing faces

With news coming the town’s Waitrose will become not only an Aldi but a gym, too, we thought we would take a trip down memory lane and revisit how businesses, shops and pubs have come and gone in the last decade.

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We’ve also had a look at some of the upcoming plans for Sandhurst through plans submitted to the council.

How Sandhurst has changed

Let’s start with the big one — Waitrose is no longer in the town.

The popular store had sat pretty in Sandhurst since 2006 until it closed in autumn last year.

Before that, it was a Safeway supermarket which opened in 1985.

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Some residents welcomed the plans to switch from Waitrose to an Aldi, which could open in August, according to a planning report, but others were ‘sad to see it go.’

Dee's Pets

Just before the turn of the year, Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) planning chiefs said yes to plans to turn part of Dee’s Pets into a nail salon.

Star Nails now occupies half of the retail space at 29 Yorktown Road alongside the pet store at 27 Yorktown Road.

Dee’s Pets has been in business since 1972.

Snap Fitness

In November 2018, BFC gave planning permission to developers to turn offices and a warehouse on Vulcan Way into a gym (yes, another one!).

Snap Fitness officially moved in in March 2019 after kitting out the former industrial space.

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The site is temporarily closed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Love Tattoo and Eden Bookmakers

Eden Bookmakers made way for a tattoo parlour on Yorktown Road after business owners gained planning permission to move here in 2015.

Love Tattoo now sits pride of place at number 24 on Yorktown Road, while the bookies moved to number 43 just across the road.

The Jolly Farmer

An old favourite of many in the town -- planning permission was granted for the Jolly Farmer on Yorktown Road to be redeveloped in July 2016.

The old pub will house 42 sheltered apartments for the elderly with a store added on when construction is complete.

The Dukes Head

Another pub gone from Sandhurst’s street scene.

In 2015, developers got permission to change the use of the site after landlords cleared out in summer 2013.

Designers got the all-clear to turn the pub into a home just over five years ago.

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Easy Mortgages

The financial services store moved out for The Old Mill cafe at 68 High Street.

This came after the business got planning permission to set up at the parade in June 2014.

Changes to come?

Foundation Fitness Centre

Developers got the all-clear to build thirteen apartments at the popular gym in July 2019.

Despite this, construction work has not yet got underway at the site and if it were not for the coronavirus pandemic, the gym would be open as normal.

When planning permission was given last year, the gym’s bosses told the News they had no plans to close.

The Rose and Crown Pub

Unlike The Dukes Head and the Jolly Farmer, this pub is still open, and recently benefitted from a £249,000 makeover.

This saw the drinking establishment get new furniture, timber flooring and a revamp for its beer garden.

The beer garden, however, was part of a controversial planning application to build two homes at the back of the pub.

After a long and protracted planning wrangle between residents and developers, national planning inspectors said the applicants could go ahead with the plans in August 2019.

Greggs

As revealed by the News in January, popular snack chain Greggs is set to move in on Yorktown Road.

The bakery will replace the former Natwest bank if BFC gives Greggs chiefs planning permission.

The store could be open from 5am to 10pm Monday to Saturday, and 9am to 4pm on Sundays and bank holidays, according to a planning report.