Willow Brook Centre – opening day reviewed

The Journal’s photographer has been out and about all day recording events in and around the Willow Brook Centre on its opening day.

The day started shortly before 8am, as a group of keen shoppers queued to be the first into the new Tesco Extra store. When the doors opened, a number of lucky customers were rewarded with Tesco shopping vouchers.

WIth the initial rush over, there was time to have a good look around the Willow Brook Centre and take a coffee in the Town Square.

Ten o’clock saw the arrival of various civic dignitaries, to witness the official opening ceremony performed by Bradley Stoke Mayor Robert Jones – assisted by Tesco Extra store manager Oliver Hill.

The flow of shoppers steadily increased over the day, until a surge of school children from the nearby Bradley Stoke Community School threatened to overwhelm the Tesco Extra store shortly after 2:15pm.

A Tesco contact told The Journal that trading on the day had exceeded expectations, although the style of shopping was described as being mostly of the “shallow trolley” kind.

The Town Square was generally well received by the public, although it looked a little worse for wear at the end of the night, with plenty of takeaway debris littering the area.

We have some great photos, taken over the whole day, in our PicasaWeb gallery:

• Album
• Slideshow