MORE than 200 Bourton-on-the-Water residents welcomed the opening of a £4.9m eco-friendly new Midcounties Co-operative supermarket last week, which has brought 34 new jobs to the area.

The new store on Station Road hosted a celebration event on October 13 to mark the opening, with members of the parish council performing a ribbon cutting.

Shoppers were also treated to cooking demonstrations by chef Simon Woodhouse, as well as sampling products from suppliers to the store including Chase Distillery, Cotswold Dairy, Mudwalls Veg and the British Honey Company.

The new store will stock over 800 products made in Gloucestershire and the neighbouring counties, as part of the Co-op’s ‘Best of Our Counties’ range, whilst reducing food miles in the process.

Customers also learned about the sustainability commitments of the eco-friendly store which has been designed to use as much renewable energy as possible.

Discreet solar panels have been built into the store and will produce around 33,000kwh of energy a year and the 100-space car park also features three free electric car charging points.

Andy Bartlett, store manager, said: “The celebration event was a huge success and we were delighted to showcase our tasty range of food and drink, as well as introduce our sustainability initiatives to our customers.

“Now the store is open we can’t wait to support local suppliers and increase our efforts to get sustainability into the hearts of all our shoppers, and we hope they enjoy the range of local and own brand products we pride ourselves on.”

Two of the first people to walk through the doors of the new store were Bourton residents, Mr and Mrs Orchard, who live directly opposite the supermarket.

Mr Orchard, 92, said: “We’ve lived in Bourton-on-the-Water our whole lives and are Midcounties Co-operative members. The event was brilliant and it was great to celebrate the new store with so many people in our community.”