A NEW Lidl supermarket will open its doors in Bingley next month.

The much-anticipated store will be in Main Street, on the former Bradford & Bingley building society site.

It had originally been tipped to open on April 18, but ongoing utility and roadworks meant the date had to be pushed back.

The supermarket chain has now confirmed the store will open on Thursday, May 23, with more details about the opening to be confirmed in due course.

A spokesperson for the supermarket said it represents a "multi-million pound investment", will have a 1,325m² sales area with facilities including an in-store bakery, customer toilets, plus "ample parking" for cars and bicycles.

The new store will also create up to 40 new jobs.

Planning permission was granted February 2018 and the budget supermarket has worked with local firm Stainforth Construction on the new build.

The opening of the new supermarket marks a new lease of life for the land following years of uncertainty about its future.

Sainsbury's bought the site in 2010, winning planning permission to demolish the former Bradford & Bingley building and construct a new store in 2011.

But in 2013, the retail giant dropped a bombshell on the town by suddenly shelving plans, saying the economic downturn had a "serious impact" on the viability of the project.

It was subsequently dropped from the supermarket's 2013/14 construction programme.

Then in April 2015, as demolition was going ahead, the chain put the site on the market.

Concerns were then raised about the look of the "eyesore" site, with Bingley Town Council urging Sainsbury's to take action to make the area look more presentable.

The next chapter for the beleaguered site came in January 2017, when it was sold to Lidl.

Jamie Illingworth, Bingley Chamber of Trade and Commerce president , welcomed the news.

"We are all delighted that the Lidl will be finally opening on May 23," he said.

He added that it would regenerate the site after years of it being empty and would bring an increase in footfall.

"It will be a welcome boost to the town," he said.

The new branch will add to Lidl UK’s portfolio of more than 700 stores.

The chain now employs 20,000 people across Great Britain.

The first Lidl store opened in Germany in 1973 and the first UK store opened its doors in 1994.

The iconic former Bradford & Bingley headquarters were built in the town in 1975, in the brutalist style, with a ziggurat design inspired by the nearby Five Rise Locks