by Hayley Robinson

Morrisons opens its new Sittingbourne store on Monday – six years to the day since the former mill produced its last reel of paper.

The date has been chosen by the supermarket giant as a mark of respect to the mill that previously stood on the Milton Road site.

Customers will be able to browse and buy goods from 9am, just moments after a ribbon is cut to the entrance of the store by Debbie Adams from Save the Children, Morrisons’ official charity partner.

After working in partnership with JobCentre Plus, 100 of the 300 new jobs created have gone to people who were previously unemployed.

A pre-employment course for people to get experience of working in a supermarket was organised in order to give applicants the confidence and skills needed to apply for the different in-store roles.

The new employees are trained in a range of traditional skills such as butchery, fishmongery, bakery and floristry.

The supermarket will stock more than 580 types of fresh fruit and vegetables and specialists are trained to advise customers and suggest cooking tips, food combinations and matching wines.

New technology including ice beds and misting will be used to maintain the freshness of the food on offer.

It will also include cured meats hanging continental-style above the deli counter, 140 cuts of meat in the butchery and a selection of more than 70 cheeses from the UK and around the world.

At the bakery there will be more than 120 varieties of bread baked fresh from scratch throughout the day.

Energy-saving features include using heat from refrigeration units to keep the store warm and environmentally-friendly lighting.

Motorists can also fill up their cars at a new petrol station which has been built on the site.

General manager Howard Saxby, who has worked for Morrisons for more than 25 years, said: "We wanted to create a store that offered customers a fantastic range of fresh products at great value to encourage them to cook from scratch."