Chester Cycling Campaign carried out a survey in 2014 to find the major supermarket in the Chester area that is the most cycle friendly, for both the public and their own staff. The winner was the Morrisons store in Saltney, with Tesco, Sealand Rd and Tesco Frodsham St a close, equal second. Where there is a winner there has to be a loser and that went to Iceland, Frodsham St, well below the general scores of the other supermarkets.
Trevor Jenkins, spokesperson for the Campaign explained “The key criteria for the public were the number of bicycle stands, how these relate to the number of car parking spaces, whether the stands were under cover, how close the stands were to the entrance of the store and if there was signage to the stands. For the staff facilities we looked at whether the store provided secure storage for staff cycles, if the supermarket had a cycle to work scheme, if lockers and a drying area were provided and finally whether the store had a ‘Bike Champion’ to promote cycling for staff.”
“We found that the more recent the store the better the facilities for the public and Chester Cycle Campaign would like to encourage the older stores to improve facilities to bring them up to date. This could be supported by Cheshire West and Chester Council who have a scheme to provide stands free of charge” added Mr Jenkins.
Accepting the award, Anthony Lacking. Deputy Store Manager of Morrisons said “We are delighted to receive this award and will continue to encourage our staff to cycle to work, recognizing the health benefits and the cost savings.”
The Campaign plans to repeat the survey in 2016 to see if improvements have been made.
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