CLACTON’S new £21 Million superstore was opened by the town’s Veterans Club this week.

The 35,000 sq ft store on Bull Road Road finally opened to the public two years after the scheme received planning permission. Work on it began last year.

Clacton Veterans Club were welcomed by General Store Manager Dean Bradbrook and the new store team before they cut the ribbon.

Some 250 locals have been recruited to run its various departments.

The store offers a large fresh food and produce department, the George clothing and Home range, Asda Cafe, bakery, rotisserie and fish counter.

Outside is a fully-automated petrol filling station; plus a dedicated collection point in the car park for its click and collect service.

Dean Bradbrook, General Store Manager, said: “We are so excited to be finally opening our doors to the public after months of hard work behind the scenes by our colleagues; “The opening morning was a huge success and we’d like to say a huge thank you to Clacton Veterans Club and all of our new customers who helped to celebrate with us. The Veterans Club are a lovely group of local people, so it was fantastic to have them here to officially open the store.”

Mr Bradbrook, 47, is from Ipswich and Clacton is his fifth store.

“Business has been very, very good. Better than expected and we anticipated we would do well. From our feedback, it’s a long awaited arrival and loads of customers said ‘well done’ for opening,” he said.

The George clothing lines, plus popcorn were proving particularly good sellers.

On the Monday opening day, the car park was so busy, store staff had to give up their parking spaces and use parking belonging to the nearby Nico store, which Asda staff were grateful for.

Mr Bradbrook added a travel agent will eventually open within the store.

Darren Bradwell, from Clacton Veterans Club, said: “It was a pleasure to have been invited to help open the store. We’ve all had a great time.

“We’d like to say thanks to the Asda Clacton team for the donation towards the Veterans Christmas dinner which will be taking place in the next few months.”