Watchmoor
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Watchmoor is an area in Camberley, Surrey, England, off the A331 Blackwater Valley Road. It is located opposite the
Blackwater Valley Path The Blackwater Valley Path follows the River Blackwater from its source in the Rowhill Nature Reserve in  Aldershot to just beyond the point where it joins the River Whitewater near Swallowfield to become the Broadwater. This long-distanc ...
. It is split into two parts: Watchmoor Park business park and Watchmoor Point industrial estate are accessed via Riverside Way, whilst the
Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...
Watchmoor Park Superstore and the Watchmoor Reserve nature area are accessed via a completely separate road mainly hidden from public view by trees, shrubs and hedges. The two sections are only connected via a pedestrian footpath.


Watchmoor Park business park

Watchmoor Park business park was developed in the late 1980s and the early 1990s by the asset management company London and Metropolitan. The site covers 45 acres and has large open spaces and lakes. It consists of 255,000 sq ft of office space spread between six self contained office buildings along with a separate business centre for small office users. It is home to the offices of several large companies including
Telent Telent Technology Services Limited (styled as telent) is a British radio, telecommunications, and digital infrastructure systems installation and services provision company. The name was used from 2006 for those parts of the United Kingdom and G ...
, Jaegermeister, BTG,
Unisys Unisys Corporation is an American multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. It provides digital workplace solutions, cloud, applications, and infrastructure solutions, ...
,
Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...
, Bachy Soletanche, Dc Leisure and Herrington & Carmichael. In September 2017
Frasers Property Frasers Property is a Singaporean multinational real estate and property management company that develops, owns, and manages properties across the globe. It owns and manages properties in the commercial, residential, hospitality, retail, and indu ...
purchased Watchmoor Park business park from
Oaktree Capital Management Oaktree Capital Management is an American global asset management firm specializing in alternative investment strategies. As of March 31, 2022, the company managed $164 billion for its clientele. The firm was co-founded in 1995 by a group that ...
for £42 million. It is managed by the property management company MAPP.


Watchmoor Point industrial estate

Watchmoor Point industrial estate is located adjacent to the Watchmoor Park business park on Watchmoor Rad accessed via Riverside Way.


Sainsbury's Watchmoor Park Superstore

In 1987
J Sainsbury plc J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...
and London and Metropolitan Estates Ltd planned a 37,000 sq ft Sainsbury's supermarket and an adjacent
Homebase Homebase is a British home improvement retailer and garden centre with stores across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Founded by Sainsbury's and GB-Inno-BM in 1979, the company was owned by Home Retail Group from October 2006, un ...
store with 650 car parking spaces on the part of the Watchmoor Park site which used to be a household rubbish tip. However, the Homebase plan was later abandoned, which was opened in 1990 off The Meadows roundabout instead (the Homebase store has since been closed and replaced by a
Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...
store). In the end, a 36,000 sq ft Sainsbury's supermarket with 751 car parking spaces was opened on 23 June 1992 by the then Chairman Lord (John) Sainsbury himself. The store was almost doubled in size to 66,910 sq ft in 2004. This consisted of a front and side extension. The side extension was built out of the same materials as the existing store, but was built over part of the original service yard. This means that delivery lorries now have to use the customer recycling point as the turning circle area, rather than turning in the main service yard. This side extension now contains the
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in-store concession, which was opened in 2017. The large front extension covering the full width of the original store has a very different façade to the original building, being more contemporary white panels instead of traditional light red bricks. As a result of this extension, 178 parking spaces were lost leaving a remaining 573 car parking spaces. This extension houses the checkouts and various other third party in-store concessions comprising Starbucks, Timpson, Explore Learning and Centre for Dentistry.
Lloyds Pharmacy LloydsPharmacy is a British pharmacy company. It has around 17,000 staff and dispenses over 150 million prescription items annually. It is owned by the Aurelius Group. It was formerly owned by the American McKesson Corporation. Overview The co ...
and Sushi Gourmet also have concessions inside the store. There is a petrol filling station at the far end of the site. In 2013, Sainsbury's tried to demolish its store and re-build it to over 100,000 sq ft to better compete with the
Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
Extra in The Meadows, but this application was unsuccessful.


Watchmoor Reserve

As part of the Sainsbury's development, a 13-acre nature area, Watchmoor Reserve, was created. It is owned by Surrey Heath Borough Council. Built on the site of scrubland, it was opened in Autumn 1992 and houses an outdoor classroom for children, trees, sculptures, a butterfly habitat area, a turfed viewing mound, three ponds and a 70x30 metre lake with reed beds and its own bird sanctuary island. It is located at the far end of the Sainsbury's site behind the petrol filling station and has a small car park consisting of around 13 car parking spaces.


Transport

Watchmoor is located half a mile from Junction 4 of the M3 motorway. In 2017 a footpath and cycleway was built between
Blackwater railway station Blackwater railway station is a railway station in Blackwater, a town on the borders of Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire in England. The station is managed by Great Western Railway, who provide services on the North Downs Line from Reading ...
and the
Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...
supermarket running along the A331 Blackwater Valley Road. There is also an alternative pedestrian route to the area from Blackwater railway station via the
Blackwater Valley Path The Blackwater Valley Path follows the River Blackwater from its source in the Rowhill Nature Reserve in  Aldershot to just beyond the point where it joins the River Whitewater near Swallowfield to become the Broadwater. This long-distanc ...
, going across the bridge over the
Blackwater River A blackwater river is a type of river with a slow-moving channel flowing through forested swamps or wetlands. As vegetation decays, tannins leach into the water, making a transparent, acidic water that is darkly stained, resembling black tea ...
which was constructed in 2008 to the Hawley Meadows Car Park, at the junction at the entrance to Riverside Way which was also constructed in 2017. There is an infrequent bus route to the Sainsbury's store from Camberley town centre subsidised by Sainsbury's itself as a condition for the approval of the 2004 extension to its supermarket. However, there is no bus route to Riverside Way, the entrance to the Watchmoor Park business park and Watchmoor Point industrial estate.


See also

* Camberley *
Blackwater railway station Blackwater railway station is a railway station in Blackwater, a town on the borders of Hampshire, Surrey and Berkshire in England. The station is managed by Great Western Railway, who provide services on the North Downs Line from Reading ...
*
Blackwater Valley Path The Blackwater Valley Path follows the River Blackwater from its source in the Rowhill Nature Reserve in  Aldershot to just beyond the point where it joins the River Whitewater near Swallowfield to become the Broadwater. This long-distanc ...


References


JS Journal December 1987 p4JS Journal July 1992 p13Council rejects 'David and Goliath' Sainsbury's application


External links


Watchmoor Park business parkSainsbury's Watchmoor Park SuperstoreSurrey Heath County Council Family Information Service Watchmoor ReserveSurrey Heath Borough Council Open Spaces
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