Excited shoppers queued around the block for the opening of the new Asda Superstore in South Ruislip.

The supermarket, which has recruited 300 local people, is part of the £49m Old Dairy redevelopment of the Express Dairies Arla site which left a gaping hole in the town centre when it fell vacant.

Hundreds of shoppers lined up for the 10am grand opening of the store, with a ribbon cutting by the newly-elected Mayor of Hillingdon, Councillor Carol Melvin.

The devoted crowd were entertained by local dance troupe, No Biz like Show Biz, and rewarded with a goody bag and freebies in the 40,000 sq ft store.

Also present was Toni Mullally, chief executive of Hillingdon Autistic Care and Support Society (HACS), which accepted a donation from Asda.

Mayor of Hillingdon Carol Melvin cutting the ribbon at the new Asds store in South Ruislip

The charity was founded by parents of children on the autism spectrum and help minimise disability and maximise ability of autistic individuals through family support, training, recreation and employability services.

Antoinette Mullally, chief executive at HACS, said: “It was a pleasure to have been invited to help open the store this morning; we’ve all had a great time.

“We’d like to say thanks to the Asda South Ruislip team for the donation towards the group, and a thank you to everyone who voted for us on Facebook to be invited along today.”

The store, off Victoria Road is now open

The store sells food, has speciality counters for fish, bread and pizza and also has a halal butcher, Haji Baba, in store.

There is also a George home and clothing section, optician, bureau de change and a petrol forecourt.

The store is open from 7am-11pm Monday to Saturday and 11am-5pm on Sunday.

Lee Randall, general store manager, said: “The opening morning was a great success and we’d like to say a huge thank you to the volunteers at HACS, The Mayor of Hillingdon, and all of our new customers who helped to celebrate with us.

“HACS is a lovely organisation and does some amazing work in the local community, so it was fantastic to have the team here to officially open the store with us.”

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