The opening of the new Morrisons M Local in Marlborough was a rather low- key event but that didn’t stop shoppers waiting outside on Monday morning keen to see what the store had to offer.

The convenience store, which has replaced clothing shop M&Co, opened at 9am.

Store manager Adrian Botwright, who has moved from the Devizes branch of Morrisons, said: “The opening was low key but the response so far has been very good.”

The store has employed 21 members of staff who are from Marlborough, Devizes and Swindon.

Mr Botwright said: “The concept of the M Local stores is to be very much involved with the community.

“We want to know our customers by name and we’d like to get involved with community events.

“Three of the members of staff live on the High Street so you couldn’t get more local than that.

“The staff are of varying ages.

“We have one guy who was retired and decided to come out of retirement. He gets on very well with the customers, he’s quite a character. He was one of the greeters on Monday.

“And then there’s another member of staff who has just graduated and is working 25 hours here while he does his Masters.”

Mr Botwright has worked for Morrisons and, previously, Safeway for 16 years since he was a sixth form student at Devizes School and he believes the new store brings something different to Marlborough.

He said: “We are here for people who want to shop first thing in the morning or when the rest of the High Street is closed in the evening.

“And the low prices you expect from the bigger Morrisons stores are rolled out into the smaller stores too, there is no mark up for the convenience stores.”

The shop is open daily from 7am to 10pm.