The opening date for Truro's new Next store has been announced by the company.

The highly anticipated new store will be based at Treliske Retail Park, opposite the Royal Cornwall Hospital site, which already has big name outlets such as Argos, and used to be the home of Brantano.

Next will move in to the former Mothercare store on the industrial estate.

It will be larger than its previous city centre branch in Pydar Street, at 8,078 square feet, and will now include not only womenswear, menswear and kidswear but also a much expanded home department.

The big opening will now take place this Monday (April 12) at 9am. It will then be open Mondays to Fridays from 9am to 8pm, Saturdays from 9am to 6pm and Sundays from 10am to 4pm.

Store manager Katie Cocking said: “While we have said a sorry goodbye to the high street in Truro, we look forward to welcoming you to our new retail park location and new home department.

“We can’t wait to welcome all our customers and continue to offer our amazing service, and deliver you a ‘wow’ factor in our new location.

Next said the new retail park location allowed it offer extended opening times and one floor accessibility.

This, it said, allowed “seamless integration” into its new home department.

Next confirmed back in 2019 that it planned to leave the city centre in Pydar Street in order to move to a retail park location.

At the time a letter from Iain Allsop, head of property at Next, said that the lease of the Pydar store expired in June 2018 and the company and been holding it over ever since.

He said at that time: "As a result of rapid and widely reported changes in the UK retail market and consumers preferences, the store is no longer suited to Next's requirements in terms of its size, internal layout and location. Accordingly, in common with a number of other stores of similar size and location across the UK, its closure is now inevitable."

However, he stressed that Next was keen to retain a presence in Truro if possible. The company announced last year that it would be leaving Pydar Street in January 2021.

It had previously hoped to move to a proposed retail park at Hendra near Threemilestone but the development was refused permission by Cornwall Council under delegated powers in April last year.

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Next currently has a planing application for a change in signage for the new store awaiting a decision from Cornwall Council.