Fashion store Next opens its doors in Chippenham today but the Gazette won’t be able to report what staff think about it after the company banned them from talking to the paper.

Despite requesting interviews with staff and store manager Alice Carrington for a week the company refused.

At first it said the staff were too busy to comment about the opening but then decided it was against company policy.

Only quotes written and sanctioned by its PR department in Leicester are allowed to be published. PR officer Matt King said: “Our policy is not to allow staff to talk to the press. It is not that we don’t trust them, it is just our policy. We can send a quote.”

Asked whether the company cared that people in Chippenham were interested in the store opening or that 60 jobs have been created he said:

“We just have a policy. In any case the staff are too busy.”

But staff were not deemed 'too busy' to pose for a picture, although the company also said it wanted to vet the pictures before the Gazette published them.

Editor Gary Lawrence said: “I am really baffled as to why Next should be so secretive about its opening. We have been allowed unfettered access to top secret military bases at Corsham and Lyneham with no problem at all. Why not a clothes shop?

“Why doesn’t the company trust its staff to tell us how excited they are about the store opening? I really don’t understand it. All we wanted to do was to be able to tell our readers about the new store and talk to people that work there. Next would only supply us with some bland PR and our readers deserve more than that.”

The 10,980 sq ft fashion and homeware outlet at Bath Road retail park is creating 60 jobs.

One staff member managed to get around the store’s ban on communication.

Becci Plowman, of Chippenham, has been busy all week helping to get the store ready. She tweeted on Sunday: “Cannot wait to go to work tomorrow, starting to set up the new @nextofficial store in Chippenham!” The store will only open for four days a week. According to the Next website, opening hours are 9am to 8pm Thursday and Friday, 9am to 7pm Saturday and 11am to 5pm Sunday.

But not everyone is happy about its location.

Next is the first retailer to open in one of three separate units created from the former Focus DIY building. When plans to divide it were given the go-ahead in August 2011, it caused much disappointment for the Chippenham Vision board and developers ING, which had hoped to attract Next to a new shopping centre at the town centre end of Bath Road.

It is understood Peverel have taken over the project from ING and are in pre-application discussions with planners.

Cherish Chippenham, which is made up of traders, business owners, councillors and the public, is also worried that the new units could harm the town centre by drawing away shoppers.