THE opening of a new Tesco Express store in Maidstone will create about 20 new jobs.

The shop in Hermitage Walk, close to Maidstone Hospital, is scheduled to open for business early in December. It will trade from 7am to 11pm, seven days a week.

Store manager Shane Fitzpatrick said that as well as groceries, it will sell newspapers and magazines, have a bakery, a cash machine and sell National Lottery tickets.