Surely the council must be aware of how poorly the recently opened Debenhams in Hemel Hempsted has done (which also has 80,000 sq ft of floor space like the proposed Aylesbury store) and that isn't even in direct competition with the vast Milton Keynes branch, all 135,000 sq ft of it.

The decision really doesn't surprise me however, as it continues the trend of Aylesbury town centre being converted into a poor copy of MK Central!

Whilst we once had a good selection of independent stores that made Aylesbury a unique place to go shopping most have now closed down to be replaced by chain stores- almost all of which have much larger branches just a short drive anyway.

At least the new theatre is one feature of the Waterside which is ambitious enough that it should bring some extra trade to our rapidly expanding town, as the Civic seems to have struggled to attract the big acts and crowds in recent years.

Hopefully this nightly influx of people might lead to some better quality bars & clubs opening up to in the town centre so that theatre goers won't just head off home straight after the show/gig as normally happens, with 2,000 potential customers I'm sure someone can come up with something.

Stephen N, Aylesbury

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