THE building of the new Waitrose has been delayed due to poor weather conditions.

A new Waitrose in Evesham at the old fire station in Merstow Green was scheduled to be ready to handover to Waitrose in March but it has now been put back.

A new date has not been set, with the council stating that it will be opened "later this year."

Vic Allison, deputy managing director of Wychavon District Council, said: “Our contractors are working hard to get the building ready as soon as possible and Waitrose remain fully committed to the project.

"Due to adverse weather conditions and technical issues with construction works, the building will unfortunately not be completed as scheduled. The intention is to open the new store later in the year and we look forward to welcoming Waitrose to Evesham.”

A Waitrose spokesman said: “We look forward to the building being ready so we can finalise our opening programme and update local people.”

Work began on the £10million store in May of last year as builders from Midas Retail Limited started work on the 28,145.

As with the Droitwich Waitrose store, Wychavon District Council is funding the building of the store in Evesham, which the supermarket chain will lease back from the council and pay a commercial rent on. Wychavon will retain ownership of the building.

The new store is expected to create 150 jobs when it opens.