Look back at how Waitrose made the Helensburgh headlines

But the company's association with Helensburgh goes back a good deal further than that.

In fact, the proposal to establish a Waitrose store in Helensburgh was first aired almost exactly nine years ago.

Here we take a look back at how the company, and its Helensburgh store, have made the headlines in the Advertiser during that time...

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May 12, 2011 – Waitrose’s plans for a new store opposite Hermitage Academy go public in the Advertiser for the first time. The company says it plans to create 180 jobs at a shop and fuel station opposite Hermitage Academy, with proposals to be put on show at a public exhibition in the Victoria Halls the following month.

May 19, 2011 – The proposals spark plenty of debate within days of Waitrose’s announcement. Many of the Advertiser’s online readers say the plan should be welcomed with open arms, but some complain that the town needs an affordable supermarket rather than one which, in one reader’s words, “will only suit folk with money”.

READ MORE: Helensburgh faces long wait for Morrisons to replace Waitrose

June 30, 2011 – A Helensburgh Community Council survey finds that 96 per cent of respondents are in favour of Waitrose's overall proposals – though a new petrol station is viewed as the most positive aspect of the proposal.

August 25, 2011 – Waitrose insists that the site opposite the Academy is the only one it’s considering for its new Helensburgh store, after businesses raise concern that the out-of-town location might harm town centre shops. The Advertiser reveals that the proposals face a stumbling block because the site is not zoned for retail use in the local plan – but Waitrose says it will walk away and look at other towns if its plans for the Cardross Road site are rejected.

December 1, 2011 – Waitrose officials claim Argyll and Bute Council officials are trying to delay the company’s application for the Cardross Road site in a bid to rush forward a solution to a debate stretching back 20 years over whether a supermarket should be built on the seafront next to Helensburgh pier. The local authority strongly denies the claims.

February 2, 2012 – A group of independent Helensburgh retailers warns that the centre of the Burgh will become a “ghost town” if Waitrose’s plans are approved. They say the town centre would “go the same way as Dumbarton, Paisley and other towns where supermarkets and new shopping centres have led to long-established shops having to close as trade is drawn away”.

READ MORE: Waitrose store manager says 'thank you, Helensburgh' as customers sign 'book of appreciation'

February 22, 2012 – Waitrose’s plans are given the green light following an eight-hour hearing of Argyll and Bute Council’s planning committee at the Victoria Halls.

November 8, 2012 – A team of local excavators salvage 1,000 bottles from the site of the new supermarket in a bid to create a unique picture of part of Helensburgh's social history. The land had been used by local authorities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a bottle landfill site.

February 14, 2013 – The first turf is cut at the site, weeks after Waitrose announces building work will be complete in time for the new store and petrol station to open in October of the same year.

August 12, 2013 – The Advertiser reports on how more than 1,200 people were set to miss out on jobs at the new store after Waitrose receives almost seven applications for each job available. Store bosses announced that 470 applications from a total of 1,400 had been shortlisted for the 200 positions available – and equated the response to that expected for new stores being built in large cities.

October 24, 2013 – The store, Waitrose’s 300th in the UK, opens its doors to the public – though not before an eagle-eyed Advertiser reader spots an error on promotional leaflets, which apparently suggest that the store will only be open for an hour a day, 8pm till 9pm, Monday to Saturday. The ribbon is cut by Helensburgh councillor Vivien Dance and by two new apprentices at the store, Tanya McVey and Chloe McGinley.

February 27, 2014 – The parent council at Hermitage Academy hears that the school’s canteen has returned a loss of around £35,000 - £2,100 a week – since Waitrose first opened. Concern is also expressed at pupils crossing the road between the shop and the school at the bus stop, rather than at the pedestrian crossing, because of the distance between the crossing and the safe exit from the school.

READ MORE: Morrisons to replace Waitrose in Helensburgh, two MSPs tell Advertiser

March 27, 2014 – The new store is shortlisted as a finalist for the annual Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland awards, though it misses out on one of the top accolades. However, in June, the building goes on to win the prize for ‘best retail building’ at The Drum’s annual architecture and design awards in Glasgow.

November 4, 2015 – The Advertiser reveals that £24,000 has been donated through Waitrose’s Community Matters scheme to local good causes in the two years since the store opened its doors. The company announces plans to re-run its ‘Christmas Isolation’ campaign to provide Christmas dinner to local residents who might otherwise have spent December 25 alone.

September 7, 2016 – A one-third-scale replica of the Comet, the first commercial steamship in Europe, is unveiled in the supermarket’s grounds, having been gifted to Waitrose by the Helensburgh Heritage Trust. The Comet was commissioned in 1812 by Helensburgh’s first Provost, Henry Bell, and brought crowds of Glaswegians ‘doon the watter’ from the city to the coast.

March 22, 2017 – Waitrose announces it’s to “refine” its offer of free tea and coffee in all stores for its ‘myWaitrose’ card holders. Instead of collecting their cuppa as they enter the Helensburgh store, card holders are told they’ll only get a cup after they’ve paid for their shopping.

August 28, 2017 – Waitrose presents a cheque for £19,388 to the Helensburgh Tree Conservation Trust after the charity is selected as the first recipient of the new 5p levy on plastic carrier bags in Scotland’s shops.

September 6, 2018 – Police Scotland and Waitrose deny claims in the national media that police have been basing themselves in the store to deal with “rowdy” pupils from Hermitage Academy.

May 2, 2019 – Waitrose introduces a trial scheme limiting the number of school pupils in the store to a maximum of 30 at a time, “to ensure all of our customers, whether from the school or not, can have a good experience”. But the move is criticised by one Helensburgh parent, who says that it’s “totally insulting” to “force all children to wait outside”.

READ MORE: Ruth Wishart: How I somehow managed to hit Waitrose home delivery jackpot

September 4, 2019 – A report to the Argyll and Bute licensing board reveals that alcoholic drinks worth thousands of pounds have been stolen from the Waitrose store since March 2017. Booze worth £1,500, £965 and £668 is stolen in separate raids, according to a report on a bid by the firm to increase the amount of space allowed for the sale of alcohol in the shop. The Argyll and West Dunbartonshire area commander, Chief Superintendent John Paterson, says that police visited the store in March 2017 and made a number of recommendations – but on a follow-up visit in September 2018, it became evident that none of the recommendations had been implemented.

November 14, 2019 – Despite concerns expressed by the chair of the licensing board, Waitrose’s application for permission to expand the space dedicated to the sale of alcohol in the store is approved. The board grants permission for an additional 3.7 square metres of space to be added – less than the original bid for 10 square metres – after the firm’s solicitor says Waitrose used the wrong formula to calculate the space.

December 30, 2019 – The firm hands over a donation of £423 to help cover the cost of the switching-on ceremony for Helensburgh’s Christmas lights display. The move comes after a bucket collection at the ceremony itself brings in less than £300 – sparking a warning that the display will become unsustainable without more financial support from the town.

January 2020 – Plans are unveiled for a major development comprising a hotel, pub/restaurant and office premises on a site immediately to the east of the Waitrose supermarket. And, just days later, detailed proposals to build 143 new homes on a field on the other side of Cardross Road, also go public. However, within weeks the hotel element of the first proposal is scrapped, with developers citing a lack of demand.

March 4, 2020 – Waitrose confirms the store is to close in May, with the loss of 123 jobs, the day after staff are told the news at a mass meeting at a hotel on Loch Lomondside; parent company the John Lewis Partnership says the move is the result of “weaker [financial] performance than we had hoped for” by the partnership as a whole, despite “solid” results for Waitrose itself.

March 25, 2020 – As the UK government’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions take effect, Waitrose announces it’s to limit the number of customers in the store to a maximum of 32 at a time. On the same day the company says it will not be reconsidering its decision to close the store for the last time on May 3. Customers and politicians asked the company to rethink its plans in the light of the pandemic, amid fears over access to food and other basic essentials in the town during the lockdown.

March 27, 2020 – Morrisons confirms it has bought the site of the supermarket, but remains tight-lipped on its plans for the building. Amid rumours that the store won’t open in its new guise until close to Christmas, MSPs and customers urge Morrisons to ensure the gap between Waitrose’s closure and Morrisons opening is as short as possible – but Morrisons says it will only “share our proposals for the site once we have finalised our plans”.

May 1, 2020 – Store manager Kevin Sharkey thanks customers and local businesses for the "kindness and support" they have shown to the company's partners in Helensburgh, while it's revealed that more than 200 members of the public have signed a 'book of appreciation' thanking the supermarket's staff for their work.

READ MORE: Catch up with all the latest Helensburgh and Lomond news headlines here