WORK to bring a brand new Waitrose store to the heart of Evesham will begin in January, council chiefs have announced.
The first phase of the project will see the old fire station on Merstow Green demolished to allow groundworks to start for the £10million supermarket.
The Old Brewery car park will then close in April 2017, for further site preparation, with the store construction starting in early summer.
It’s expected the car park will remain closed for the duration of the building work and will then re-open as Waitrose’s customer car park in March 2018 when the store officially opens its doors for the first time.
Originally the car park was due to close for 14 months, but Wychavon District Council has been able to reduce the closure to about 11 months.
Coun Lynne Duffy, Deputy Leader of Wychavon District Council, said: “We’re thrilled that this project is moving forward and are confident that long term it will have a positive impact on Evesham town centre.
“We do appreciate that in the short term there will be some inconveniences and we’ll do all we can to minimise these like our efforts to shorten the time the car park will be closed.
“We’ve tried to be as open and as detailed as possible about the impact the works will have. We do also want to remind people of the undeniable benefits of 150 new jobs and a fantastic new store that will reinvigorate the town centre.”
