RETAIL giant Tesco will be opening a new Express store in Weymouth this week.

The branch will be located at 680 Dorchester Road and will start trading from tomorrow, Friday, April 7.

The supermarket chain said the opening of the new store will create 15 new jobs and help local charities such as the foodbank.

It will be open from 6am to 11pm Monday to Sunday and offer a bakery, Costa Coffee Express machine, popular meal deals and lottery tickets.

This new branch means that Dorchester Road now has two Tesco Express stores to choose from, with another located further towards the seafront at number 56.

Sue Brinsdon, store manager, said: “We are very excited to be opening our new Tesco Express store on Dorchester Road.

“This new store will be offering the local community a broad range of products, from fresh food to food-to-go and we are looking forward to welcoming our first customers.

“We hope we can provide a real boost to the local area and we have recruited 15 new local colleagues.

"I am really excited to be welcoming this talent into our Tesco team and it’ll be a pleasure to see our colleagues grow and develop.

“We will of course also be participating in the Tesco’s Community Grants scheme, which awards thousands of pounds every year to local good causes that can help the community to flourish.”

Community groups in Weymouth are invited to apply for community funding through the scheme which sees three local projects voted on by customers in store every three months.

First place is awarded £1,500, second place £1,000 and third place £500.

The new Express store will also participate in the Community Food Connection scheme, which redistributes surplus food to charities and community groups from every Tesco store at the end of each day.

Since its launch in 2016, the scheme has donated more than 145 million meals to charities across the UK.