See inside the new Sainsbury's Ludlow store as 95 jobs are created

The new Sainsbury's branch in Ludlow was officially opened this week. Ludlow's Deputy Mayor Vivienne Parry and Ludford Parish Council Chair Imogen Liddle cut the official ribbon at the 19,564 sq ft store in Dun Cow Road, Rocks Green, on Tuesday morning.

Ludlow Primary School pupil, Lottie Wells, won a competition to design a limited-edition Sainsbury’s bag for life. The first 500 customers to pass through the entrance from 9am picked one up as a keepsake.

Councillor Parry said: “I’m very pleased to welcome Sainsbury’s to the Ludlow and Ludford community. They’ve always taken into consideration everything that was asked of them and the 95 new jobs at the store are really helping the local economy.”

Imogen Liddle, Chair of Ludford Parish Council said: “On behalf of Ludford Parish Council I would like to express my thanks to all those involved in this exciting and important endeavour, whether from Sainsbury’s, their contractors and suppliers or local Ludford Parish Councillor Jeff Garraway.”

Store manager Nigel Fox said: “The Ludlow team have thoroughly enjoyed welcoming customers through the doors of the new store today, and we look forward to seeing many more as we enter the festive period."

Ludlow Shropshire councillor Andy Boddington said many people were looking forward to the opening and chose to take an optimistic view despite fears of the store's impact on other traders.

Councillor Boddington said: "I don’t want to be pessimistic. Our traders in the small shops and on the market have a lot of resilience. They have a good and distinctive offer. I hope they will continue to attract people into town."

But he vowed to monitor other issues including traffic at Rocks Green and potential delays to buses. There are parking spaces available for 169 cars, with a proportion reserved for disabled customers and parent and child parking.