Meet Nick Sillitoe, manager of the new Waitrose supermarket that will open in Billericay next week.

The father-of-two has moved from Waitrose's Bishops Stortford branch after eight years with the company.

Now Mr Sillitoe, who is looking to move to the town soon, says he is looking forward to finally getting the store - which opens at 8.30am on Tuesday December 1 - up and running.

He said: "I'm looking forward to welcoming the people of Billericay to the new Waitrose.

"With all the convenience it offers it means people in the town will not have to drive out of Billericay to go to a shop like this."

A huge complement of 250 staff will be employed by the store, with 70 being transferred from the closed Chelmsford branch and 160 employed locally. Another 20 will take up management posts.

Staff are already working furiously at the High Street based branch to get it ready for the big opening.

Stock is already on the shelves and workers are now putting the finishing touches to building work, which started earlier this year.

One of the major innovations will be the introduction of Quick Check, a new hi-tech way of allowing shoppers to scan in the prices of their goods and then pay by credit card as they leave the store.

The Billericay branch will become the 117th Waitrose nationwide.

Moving in - Nick Sillitoe shows off his new store

Picture: MIKE MINERS

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.