8 pictures of Blackpool's Talbot Road Sainsbury's megastore as ugly construction barriers finally removed

The barriers surrounding the outside of the glass-fronted Sainsbury’s mega-store on Talbot Road in Blackpool town centre have finally been removed, giving locals a look at the building without the impediment of the ugly hoardings.

The protective panels, which have been in place for a number of years, were originally erected after a number of the flagship store’s windows were smashed with the store previously claiming that it was dealing with a ‘longstanding and persistent problem at the store of vandalism of the exposed ground floor windows.’

Opened in 2014 as part of a £70m regeneration of the area since dubbed Blackpool’s ‘mini-Canary Wharf’ amid other developments including the new Ministry of Defence building, the store has since features large and imposing hoardings bearing the message: ‘Thanks for bearing with us while we make improvements to your store’.

On the night of Monday, June 8, however, the barriers were finally removed, with workers seen at the scene unscrewing the hoardings to take them apart and using forklifts to take them away. Take a look at our pictures of the new-look storefront below...