Though the Hull area is now home to more than a few large supermarkets, the concept of the out-of-town superstore was relatively new in the early 1980s.
Asda was among the first to bring the idea to the city, but it was met with a fair amount of resistance. The retailer’s Bilton superstore was its first in Hull, opening in 1982 after a long-winded planning saga.
The supermarket giant reportedly spent around a decade trying to open a store in the area but there was much opposition to the arrival of “vast new hypermarkets” which were feared to risk taking trade away from city centre shops.
Hull City Council initially objected to planning permission for the Bilton store but the go-ahead was given when the government’s environment minister Michael Heseltine green-lit the supermarket, saying there was a social need in the area for such a development. There had also been strong opposition from Humberside and Holderness councils.
The arrival of Asda effectively paved the way for other large superstores to be built around the outskirts of the city including Sainsbury’s, at Hessle, which opened in 1984.
The ribbon was finally cut at Asda Bilton on Monday, May 17, 1982 by six-year-old Wendy Jane Gregg whose mother, Margaret, was one of the 300 staff employed at the store. Asda’s managing director, John Fletcher, attended the grand opening and toured the supermarket with members of the Fleet Estate Residents’ Association. He said: “We were conscious they they had seen the store being built for a long period of time, and it was only right that they should have the first sight of it.”