WORK on creating a massive £20 million Waitrose store in Worcester is due to start next month - with the huge retailer saying it cannot wait to get started.

Construction workers are expected to move onto the London Road site by the end of February and start to make the land clear and secure before finalising a date to demolish the old Ebenezer Baylis print works.

The imminent arrival of the builders comes six months after Waitrose secured planning permission to bring a store to the city for the first time.

Since then it has been working with a third party developer to draw up a detailed programme for reducing the printworks to rubble, which will be replaced by a huge 40,000 sq ft store.

The start of the project will signal around 12 months of intense building work on the site, which is on target to meet the opening date of the spring of 2016.

Councillor Steve Mackay, who represents the Battenhall area for Worcester City Council, said: "People have picked up concerns over other supermarkets struggling and closing, and have been asking 'are Waitrose still coming'.

"For all the people who wanted a Waitrose in Worcester this is good news, I just hope when the work is being done it doesn't cause any extra congestion."

Resident Martin Cottrell, 51, of Ransom Avenue in Battenhall, said: "Tesco is close to us but having a choice will be great.

"I'm looking forward to it, lots of people who live around here are."

A Waitrose spokesman said: "The developer is just finalising the programme but aims to commence work by the end of the February so we can really start to look forward to seeing our ambition to have a shop in Worcester become a reality.

"It is a great opportunity to bring new investment to a prominent site at a gateway into the city which will create a quality food store, more choice and a significant number of new jobs for local people."

The size of the Worcester store will make it nearly double the 25,000 sq ft Malvern Waitrose.

The store will feature a range of John Lewis goods, a coffee shop with outside seating and 285 parking spaces.

The plans include fish, cheese, meat and patisserie counters, and 40 jobs will be created during a mammoth construction process alone, as well as 240 permanent roles.

It will join Asda, Tesco and Sainsbury's in Worcester's supermarket wars.