Brownhills business owners back plans to redevelop shopping precinct where Aldi is planned

The shopping area on the High Street has been left to wrack and ruin for well over a decade and become a hotspot for anti-social behaviour. 

Businesses and locals have long called for the redevelopment of the precinct. 

In 2022, supermarket giant Aldi put forward bold plans to transform the site, which were approved by Walsall Council. 

While Aldi owns most of the area already, there are four remaining units that the supermarket has been unable to buy. 

Last week, Walsall Council vowed to support Aldi with Compulsory Purchase Orders to get the regeneration scheme up and running and finally see the back of Ravenscourt. 

Business owner Zoe Davies, of Greetings for You, used to run her shop from Ravenscourt. 

She had to relocate to the High Street when Tesco said it was going to redevelop the precinct. 

Zoe was one of the many businesses which had to up sticks due to the plans, but the Tesco never materialised. 

She said: “All of the shops were occupied at that time, Tesco was buying it so we all moved out, then it fell through. Since then it’s just been left there. 

“I think the Aldi will be a good thing. At the moment it’s a bit of an eyesore, there’s no shops there trading so it’s only going to bring more jobs. 

"Anything has got to be better than that and they’re never going to get those shops occupied again. 

"It should bring more people to the town as well.”

Dai Nguyen, owner of Brownhills Nails and Spa on High Street, has run the business since 2020. 

He said: “I really do support Aldi, or whoever, to knock it down. 

"There’s a lot of rats and kids being anti-social. 

"It is wrecking the whole of Brownhills, they do need to do something about it.”

Shopper Stephnie Broadhurst said: “It was good when there was all shops and things, it was really handy. 

"But since they closed down it’s just an eyesore, there’s youths hanging about and I’m sick of the huge rats down there.”