A NEW shop, garage and cafe which remains under construction in Worcester now has a formal opening date and is recruiting staff.

We have already reported in the Worcester News how the old BP garage on corner of Malvern Road and Bromwich Road in Lower Wick has been demolished to make way for the new £1 million BP M&S Simply Food store development.

However, now it has revealed that it will also have a sister store in Droitwich and both stores are recruiting staff.

BP M&S Simply Food had not confirmed the location of the Droitwich store at the time the Worcester news went to press.

The garage in Worcester will continue to provide fuel but the site will also have a Wild Bean Cafe selling tea, coffee, hot drinks and sandwiches.

Since our last article the garage has already taken shape as these pictures, taken today, show.

A spokesperson said previously that the shop would create up to 18 jobs at Worcester.

A BP M&S spokesperson said the M&S store would offer 'high quality food ranges', including ready meals, fresh produce, sandwiches, snacks, drinks and basic groceries including bread and milk.

The store manager Tony Berry said the store in Lower Wick would open on Wednesday, June 3 followed by a new build store in Droitwich which is to open in July.

He said: "We are pleased to be creating around 50 full and part time jobs (across both sites). I am looking forward to getting my new team on board and fully trained to enable us to deliver the quality service and goods that BP and Marks & Spencer Simply Foods offer."

The garage was being run as an independent BP dealer before work began to convert it into the new-look business.

The partnership between BP and M&S has been in place since 2005 and there are almost 200 of these types of stores across the country. These new stores have been billed as 'a drive to improve the overall service station experience'.

The aim of the partnership is to provide customers with a full range of ‘food for now’ and ‘food for later’ and 'set BP apart from other forecourt providers'.