Markfield Parish Neighbourhood Plan: Referendum Version Shopping
5.11. Services and facilities are located either on Main Street or Chitterman Way. Until the medical centre and chemists moved from the older part of the village down to Chitterman Way, other than a corner shop on Ashby Road, all other shops and facilities were found along Main Street. 5.12. Main Street is still the Local Centre, containing a range of essential, everyday retail uses such as a hairdressers/beauty salons, one large and one small general food stores, a hardware shop and a financial advisor. There is currently one small vacant shop. There are also four hot-food takeaways, one of which is also a café. 5.13. There are two public houses and one pub/restaurants in Markfield village and two further pub/restaurants elsewhere in the parish. 5.14. The Neighbourhood Centre at Chitterman Way Retail contains a Londis convenience store with Post Office. The store is next to Markfield Medical Centre and Masons pharmacy. There is limited off-road parking for all of these facilities. 5.15. Outside these two centres there are 3 petrol filling stations selling convenience goods. Coalville, which has a good range of convenience and comparison shopping, lies 7.7km (4.8 miles) to the west of Markfield and Loughborough, which has an even wider range of facilities is approximately 8 miles to the north. 5.16. 67% of respondents to our 2019 Questionnaire Survey rated the shops as adequate or good. 77% wanted our Neighbourhood Plan to encourage more shops and FIGURE 14: MARKFIELD CO-OP, MAIN STREET 50% wants to encourage restaurants and cafes. 5.17. The retail units at Main Street and Chitterman Way are well occupied with no obvious room for expansion. As of May 2020, there is one small vacant unit to rent on Main Street. This particular unit has a relatively high turnover of tenants. The available car parking is well-used. As the retail offer is already fragmented, new shops, cafes and restaurants will be 51
