SUPERMARKET giant Tesco has not ruled out reviving its plans to build a store at Barnards Green.

The retail chain planned a supermarket at the Green in the mid-1990s, but its application was turned down by Malvern Hills District Council in 1997, at the same time the town centre Waitrose was approved.

In 1999, the company confirmed it was assessing the situation and still held options on land in Barnards Green. Tesco spokesman Richard Petrie said this week the company was still "looking to develop" in the Malvern area.

"We are looking at all the varying options that are around at the moment," he said.

When asked whether Tesco had been in touch with Malvern Hills District Council's planning department, planning officer Rosalyn Kirby said: "We haven't heard anything; we've not had pre-application talks with them and we have certainly not had an application."

The mid-1990s Tesco plan was to build the supermarket on land south of the existing shopping centre, now occupied by light industrial units. Part of the Malvern College playing field would also have been built on.

In what may be an unrelated development, the freehold of the Somerfield supermarket in Barnards Green has changed hands.

Somerfield spokesman Emma Parker confirmed the change of ownership which has happened recently, but she could not say who the new owner was.

But she said: "We've got nine years left on the lease and we have no intention of closing the store."