Hundreds of construction workers were last night labouring into the night to get Bradley Stoke’s new town centre ready for today’s official opening.
The Willow Brook Centre is due to open its doors at 8am, when the giant Tesco Extra store will begin trading.
Whilst the Bradley Stoke Way side of the complex was relatively quiet on Sunday, with the road and footway restrictions finally lifted after months of disruption, the new Town Square was a hive of activity as workers rushed to remove scaffolding, lay paving and erect signage.
The existing Tesco store closed its doors for the last time at 4pm, after which staff were seen to transfer filing cabinets and other office equipment over to the new store. Meanwhile, in the car park, workers were already erecting signs announcing that the Willow Brook Centre and Tesco Extra store are “now open”.
Work was expected to go on into the early hours, with one source citing 4am as the expected finishing time.
Shoppers will be disappointed to hear that a further outlet has announced that it is not ready to open on the frst day. A spokesperson for Costa Coffee told The journal that their first day of trading would be Wednesday this week. The company joins 1st Equity (Nationwide), Reflections and O2 in not meeting the official Willow Brook Centre opening date.
Nevertheless, it expected that residents of Bradley Stoke will turn out in numbers to inspect their new town centre, for which they have so long waited.
The Journal will be on site throughout the day, so check back later for reports and photos.
