THE Midcounties Co-operative Society has been doing all that it could to keep the Beale's Department Store in Cinderford open. The facts were revealed by the society's CEO, Ben Read, in answer to a question at the Co-op's annual general meeting held on May 11.

Although the property is owned by the Midcounties Co-op, it had been sublet to the Anglian Co-op Society, who formerly operated a chain of department stores across the country, trading under the name of Westgate or AHF stores.

When Anglian decided to relinquish its management of department stores, the Westgate store in Cinderford was taken over by Beales.

For its own reasons, Anglian has now decided to terminate the lease on the Beale's store in Cinderford early.This has left the Midcounties Co-op with the task of trying to renegotiate terms to re-let the property.

Ben Reid told members at the society's AGM that in order to keep the store open he had offered Beale's a deal whereby they could maintain the lease rent free, so that they could continue trading with only rates and overall costs to cover.

Beale's has, however, turned down the offer.

No reason for this was given for their decision, though it was speculated that a possible reason could be the threat of an Asda store opening in Cinderford, which could take away much of the trade that currently goes to the Beale's store.

Alistair Graham

Lydney