WORK on Lydney's new Tesco store is scheduled to begin in October and if all goes to plan the first customers will be filling their trolleys next May.
The massive High Street site – occupying an area from Victoria Road to the now demolished Feathers Hotel – will be further cleared when the bulldozers move in to knock down the former Watts Garage car showrooms.
The new store will complete the transformation of that part of Lydney which was once the thriving heart of the town centred round the Post Office building.
It was also the hub of many of the Watts family businesses which have now been dispersed to other locations round the town.
Rumours that Tesco's plans for Lydney had been put on hold were dismissed by the company.
"It's the sort of thing we hear frequently. The work at Lydney is due to begin in October and the store is scheduled to open next May," said a spokesperson.
For Watts, Mr John Thurston said the petrol station would remain open and continue to offer all the present facilities while the store was being built and until Tesco opened their own petrol station on an adjoining site – probably that presently occupied by the former car showrooms.
Meanwhile Lydney's High Street traders have been puzzled by the stripping of slab paving near the Watts Garage and its replacement with a tar surface which will only have to be ripped up when road widening starts as part of the store plan.
"It doesn't make sense – it's a huge public expense," said one trader.
And following this High Street and Newerne Street traders received notices of Sunday road closures for resurfacing on September 3, 10 and 17 – work which again may have to be redone, at least in part.
District Surveyor Rob Peacey told the Review: "Oddly enough the road through town is still classed as the A48 and is the responsibility of the Highways Agency, while the county looks after the bypass.
"I can only assume the work has been scheduled for some time and they couldn't wait any longer."