Video: ASDA pulls out of Dover development

Plans for a multi-million pound redevelopment of Dover town centre have suffered a major blow after ASDA announced it was withdrawing from the scheme.

The supermarket would have been the anchor store for the re-development of the St James' Street area, which was also due to include a hotel, restaurant, shops and flats.

A former bus garage has already been demolished to make way for the new complex, and a disused multi-storey car park, office block and hotel are also to be pulled down. Much of the rest of the site is derelict.

Dover MP Gwyn Prosser accused the company of stringing the town along and said he would be meeting ASDA's property manager to discuss the collapse of the deal.

Dover District Council officers say they are having urgent talks to try to find another supermarket for the project.

A spokesman for ASDA said the company still wanted to invest in the town, but had decided that its part of the scheme was no longer commercially viable.

The decision came just over a month after Morrisons opened a supermarket at the other end of the town.