A new Tesco branch in Twickenham is poised to open its doors to customers for the first time on Friday (August 21).

The new Express store, at 2-6 Whitton Road, has created 17 new jobs and staff are looking forward to serving customers when the doors open for the first time at 8am.

Its opening hours will be from 7am to 11pm daily.

Store Manager Ivan Boska said: “My team and I are extremely excited to be opening our Twickenham Express store on Whitton Road and helping to serve the local community at this difficult time.

“The safety of our customers and colleagues is our number one priority and we have in place social distancing measures which are designed to keep everyone safe, in line with government advice, whilst still offering the local community brilliant service and a broad range of products including fresh food and food to go. We look forward to welcoming our first customers.”

Richmond and Twickenham Times:

Tesco recently announced it is providing more than £52m to local communities following the COVID-19 outbreak, continuing to give extra food and funding for FareShare, the Trussell Trust, donations of food for Salute the NHS, grants via its Bags of Help scheme and support for the British Red Cross and National Emergencies Trust, all of whom are helping the most vulnerable in the community.

The new Twickenham Express store will take part in a number of community programmes run by Tesco to give back to the communities it serves.

Local charity and community groups in the area are encouraged to sign up to receive food from Tesco’s surplus food redistribution scheme Community Food Connection.

Community Food Connection links Tesco stores to local charities and community groups, allowing Tesco to redistribute food that’s left over at the end of the day in the store to local charities, free of charge, who distribute it to those who need it most.

Community Food Connection has now donated over 50 million meals worth of surplus food to local charities and community groups, and this number grows every day. Across Twickenham Tesco stores have provided over 53,000 meals to groups in the local community so far.

Good causes in the area are also able to apply for funding from Tesco’s Bags of Help scheme which helps to fund local community projects. More than 28,000 community groups that have been awarded a grant so far, with over £84 million already invested in local projects. In Twickenham 53 community projects have shared over £139,000 worth of funding.

Tesco is keen to hear from any groups which could benefit from either scheme.

For more information go to www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp and https://www.tescoplc.com/sustainability/food-waste/topics/own-operations/community-food-connection.