Dibden: Opening

Waitrose Dibden 118 opened on 12th August 1975. 

The following article appeared in the Partnership in-house magazine at the time.

Waitrose opened its 56th branch on 12th August 1975 at Hythe in Hampshire – although the branch is to be known as Dibden, the name of a neighbouring village some two miles away to prevent confusion with Hythe in Kent and Hythe in Essex. The newest Waitrose has a selling area of 915 square metres (9850 sq feet); twelve checkouts and shares a car park with space for 116 vehicles with four other retailers in Hythe’s new shopping development.
A small town hardly more than a large village, with a population of only 14,000, Hythe lies on the opposite side of Southampton Water from the busy port. The shops and business premises cluster round the head of the landing pier, so long that a small train chugs back and forth with trippers and it is here that the ferry to Southampton docks.
There is however a large development programme planned for this stretch of the coast – building inland is inhibited by the close proximity of the New Forest – and the catchment area in the nearby villages of Fawley, Dibden, Marchwood and Dibden Purlieu is reckoned to be about 25,000 people, most shoppers having previously to go into Southampton or further north-east to the Carrefour hypermarket at Chandler’s Ford to do their food shopping in a large supermarket. Hythe itself, apart from Waitrose, has only one other supermarket, a few grocers, newsagents, and shops selling holiday souvenirs.
The Waitrose supermarket dominates a corner of the short narrow road described as the High Street. Built in red brick with a cottage style pointed roof, it is not unlike Marlow in appearance. The architects were Mr Nott and Mr Collinson, both of the Partnership’s Building group. It is Mr Nott’s first project for Waitrose and Mr Collinson’s second, the other being Crowborough. The Development Assistant, Mr Rackham, was also in charge of preparations for Crowborough, and Dibden is his second project. ‘ We have had a few teething problems with contractors but the buildup to the opening day has really gone very well.’ Mr Rackham told the Gazette when we visited the branch on Friday 8th August. A boutique, a newsagent, restaurant and one shop as yet unlet share in the development with Waitrose.
Dibden has few innovations unlike its predecessors, although non-chip metal shelves, partly coated in plastic, are on trial in an experiment to see if they are an improvement on conventional wooden shelving. The same idea has been tried out at Stourbridge to a different design, but if the Dibden shelving proves satisfactory, it will be introduced into other branches. Like Stourbridge the meat preparation room at Dibden has an improved Avery machine which consists of two units – one which labels while the other seals the meat. This model is not only faster to operate than the conventional machine but has a clearer print and if one unit breaks down a new part can be quickly fitted without having to hold up the whole meat packing operation.
The Manager at Dibden, Mr Daley, was formerly Manager at Waitrose Hayes. Staffing he says went particularly well and there were at least three applicants for every job advertised. There are 61 Partners at Dibden of whom seventeen are part-timers; in addition there are a number of weekend staff. The Deputy Manager is Mr Gow, who began his career in Waitrose as a Saturday temporary at Temple Fortune, later moved to the buying side; and prior to his new appointment was deputy Manager at Woodley.

Gazette 16.08.75
Vol 57 No 29