Hundreds queue to be the first in Blackpool's The Food Warehouse supermarket

The Food Warehouse opened its doors at Blackpool Retail Park in South Shore for the first time at 9am today and there was more than 500 people who wanted to have a glimpse inside.

The frozen food retailer, part of the Iceland chain, first appeared in the UK in 2014 and has invested more than three quarters of a million pounds in its landmark Blackpool store and created 30 new jobs.

It was the firm’s 100th store to be opened and Richard Walker, managing director for Iceland and The Food Warehouse said Blackpool has ‘done us proud’ after he cut the ribbon to declare the store open.

He added: “The turnout is pretty awesome. I have never seen anything on this scale before and everyone has been really polite with no pushing or shoving. It’s fantastic.”

The Blackpool store manager, Jessica Wood added: “It’s been fantastic to welcome the people of Blackpool to the new store and share this huge milestone with the local community.

Among the first people to queue up and get in were Michael McSharry and Jacquie Limacher.

Mr McSharry, 70, from St Annes, had been queing since 7.30am. He said: “I’ve seen they have some good offers on and I wanted to try some of their stuff out.

Jacquie, 62, South Shore queued for more than an hour to have a look around.

She said: “I use the Iceland store in Blackpool a lot but I wanted to give this a shot as it will be more convenient because of the car park and it’s more local for me.

“I think a good thing is that you can get it all in one place and the bulk buy offers seem really good.”

The stores opening hours are Monday to Saturday 8am to 10pm and Sunday 10am to 4pm.