Lidl store 'to open before Christmas'

Workers will move in to a leafy Wolverhampton suburb to start creating a new low-budget Lidl supermarket within weeks, bosses announced today.

Lidl chiefs revealed that they had been bombarded with calls from shoppers who are desperate to see the store open in Finchfield soon and vowed that the supermarket would be open before Christmas.

Bosses have already recruited a 30-strong team of staff from the Wolverhampton area ready for the grand opening of the store.

Matt King, Lidl spokesman, said: "We are expecting it will take around four or five weeks to create the store and we want to open before Christmas.

"We have had a lot of public support and received lots of calls from people wanting to know when the supermarket will be open.

"The recruitment drive has been ongoing and 30 jobs have gone to people in the local area.

"We are really looking forward to opening the store. It has been a long time coming and so we can't wait to get started."

The controversial store giant was finally given the go ahead to create a branch on the former Castlecroft Garage site, in Finchfield Hill, after years of planning wrangles over the land.

The plans were passed despite protests from angry residents who had already managed to fight off bids by heavyweights Waitrose and Marks & Spencer to set up stores.

They handed in a 335-name petition in objection to the proposals after voicing fears that it would lead to increased traffic, loss of security and a reduced quality of life.

Plans for a housing development also fizzled out due to stiff opposition from locals.

Lidl's first application to transform the site with a discount store was thrown out last year due to its poor architectural design.

But after going back to the drawing board, the revived plans were approved.

Workers are now set to move on to the former car showroom in weeks to create the 790sq m store.