AFTER almost three years of campaigning by planners, residents and retailers, the new Sainsbury’s superstore has opened in Sudbury.

Great Cornard Paralympian Jonathan Adams performed the official opening honours and welcomed the first customers to the 6,000sq ft shop and cafe in Cornard Road yesterday morning.

Sainsbury’s was one of the main sponsors of the Paralympic Games and Mr Adams praised staff at the new store who have already shown their support for local community initiatives, including the Spirit of Sudbury campaign and the Bridge Project.

Store manager Martin Pyle, whose grandparents are from Monks Eleigh, spoke of his pride at seeing work on the supermarket – which has been built on the former William Armes factory site – finish four weeks ahead of schedule.

He said: “It has taken just six months to get the building up, and finishing early will give us an opportunity to take on the Christmas trade. There has been a great response from the local community and I am overwhelmed and delighted to see so many people here this morning for the opening.”

The first shopper in the queue was Maria Bryan, who said: “There are products here like the clothing which you can’t get anywhere else. I also think it will be really good to introduce a bit of competition for the other supermarkets in the area.”

Sudbury mayor Jack Owen, said he hoped the new store would not have a detrimental effect on town centre trade. He added: “It’s great to see this site being used again and the most important thing to me is that Sainsbury’s have provided jobs for about 40 local youngsters rather than recruiting from other areas, which would have been the easier option for them.”