A CITY centre supermarket that was forced to close for nearly four months due to concerns about the former Central Plaza Hotel is set to finally reopen.

Bosses from Tesco have confirmed that its Metro store on Victoria Viaduct, located beside the site of the demolished building, will open its doors to customers tomorrow.

Since its closure in October, staff from the convenience chain were temporarily redeployed to work at other stores elsewhere in the county and beyond.

A Tesco spokesman told the News & Star: “We are pleased to announce that we will be re-opening our Carlisle Victoria Viaduct store tomorrow, following our enforced closure while the neighbouring building was demolished by Carlisle Council.

“We look forward to welcoming customers back to the store and supporting the local community; and thank our colleagues for their hard work getting the store ready to open and adapting to the changes whilst the store was closed.”

While it remained shut, the company, along with other nearby businesses, was kept updated by Carlisle City Council.

The authority paid more than £1m to bring the former hotel down after it was deemed to be too unsafe following an urgent inspection last autumn.

Contractors swiftly moved on the site, and demolished the building in December. Pedestrian access along Victoria Viaduct was re-established just before Christmas, however the road remains shut to vehicles, and is expected to stay closed for a while longer to allow the site to be cleared.

The store will resume its normal opening hours from 7am until 10pm Monday to Friday, 7am until 8pm on Saturdays, and 10am until 4pm on Sundays.

Councillor John Mallinson, leader of Carlisle City Council, added: “I’d like to thank those involved in the demolition work and also businesses for their support during a difficult and challenging time.”