TENBURY Town Band played ‘food glorious food’ to get customers in the mood when, after seven years, the Tesco store opened in the town.

It was a bit like a mini carnival when the store on the former cattle market site opened its doors to its first customers.

One of the children at the opening was 10-year-old Lily Hird from Burford Primary School who won a competition to design a Tenbury Tesco Bag.

Mark Willis, the Mayor of Tenbury, officially opened the store that Tesco say will create up to 150 full and part-time jobs, the majority of whom, it is said, are people from Tenbury and the Teme Valley.

A series of recruitment events were held at Tenbury High School.

Members of the Tenbury Town Band were able to celebrate a grant of £500 from Tesco.

The supermarket has also donated £500 to the Adam Millichip Foundation. It was set up in memory of a young man from Tenbury who died in a tragic accident at work leaving a young family.

Beneficiaries of the foundation are people with a range of physical and mental disabilities who are helped to take part in sporting and other leisure activities.

On the day following the opening of the new store there was an event especially for suppliers including those from the local area.

For the supporters of the Tesco store it has been a long wait as the supermarket was first mooted in the spring of 2010.

There followed a long drawn out planning process, including the withdrawing of one application while a different design was prepared.

Even after planning permission was gained, there was a prolonged delay that led to a belief that the store would not go-ahead.

The delay was caused as Tesco tackled financial challenges but senior staff, including chief executive Dave Lewis, maintained their commitment to Tenbury.

A breakthrough came last summer when it was announced that work on the supermarket would start in the autumn with an opening in late winter or early spring.

The date of February 27 was set but this was put back because of delays in the completion of improvements to Tenbury town centre that have been partly funded by Tesco and the new date at the end of April was set.

But the opening of the store is not universally welcome in the town.

The Tesco store has caused deep divisions of opinion within Tenbury including a split among members of the Chamber of Trade.

Supporters welcome the new jobs and say that Tesco will bring people into the town from which other businesses will benefit.

However, opponents fear it will put other shops at risk with job losses and that the store will change the character of the town.

Under the planning consent, Tesco agreed to make a contribution to improvements to the town centre and also to provide nearly £100,000 for the Tenbury Transport Trust to improve local bus services.