Just days before the new Tesco supermarket is due to open in Marlborough the town’s only other store Waitrose has announced it will close for up to five days for a major refit.

Waitrose manager Andy Davies said: “We were going to do this anyway. We have to change the refrigeration which is ten years old so this was always under consideration.”

The store will get a new coffee bar and cafeteria seating 34 just inside the High Street main doors.

The wines and beers will be moved to where the bakery section and chicken rotisserie is at present and a new deli will be created at the back of the store.

Deputy manager Richard Rostill said the refit is overdue. “We have been in the High Street for 33 years and ten years ago we had a major extension. Since then there has very little change to the shop.”

Work will begin on Monday behind hoardings while the store stays open but it will have to close for four or five days in April to complete the refit.