Sainsbury's opens in former Shrewsbury ambulance station

It has taken over the formerstation next to Shirehall in Abbey Foregate.

The supermarket was officially opened by the Mayor of Shrewsbury Councillor Miles Kenny, who performed a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Abbey Foregate Local store will be Sainsbury's third in Shrewsbury, adding to its full-scale supermarket at Meole Brace retail park and another local store in Whitecroft Road in Sutton Park.

It is part of the general move of supermarkets away from the superstore and into high street metro stores.

The creation of the new supermarket has led to 24 jobs from cashiers to stock workers.

Plans for the overhaul of the ambulance station were given the green light by Shropshire Council's planning department in November last year, and included 14 new homes and two shops.

Sainsbury's is the first store to open on the site. The 1960s building, which has been described as many as an eyesore, had been empty since the ambulance station moved to a new, £1.2 million centralised "hub" in Longden Road in 2013.

The maintenance and service yard area at the rear of the old building has also been demolished, and replaced with 24 parking spaces.

The site was put up for sale in 2013, and developers Johal Dairies came back with their plans last summer.

Another new supermarket opened in Shrewsbury on Bank Holiday Monday.

Tesco opened its new metro-style store in the former O2 store on Pride Hill in the centre of Shrewsbury.

Sainsbury's also has stores in Bridgnorth, Market Drayton, Oswestry, Telford and Whitchurch.