Around 50 new jobs are to be created in Melksham when Waitrose takes over the building currently occupied by Somerfield off Bath Road.

All existing employees will be offered jobs at the new supermarket, and there will be 50 extra vacancies, which is due to open in spring 2010.

An buy-out of the Somerfield chain by the Co-operative Group took place in February, but the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) identified competition issues in Melksham, meaning either the Somerfield store had to go or one of the town's Co-operative stores, in Blackmore Road and Pembroke Road, had to be sold.

A spokesman for the Co-operative Group said: "The OFT identified Melksham as one of the locations where it had competition concerns.

"To meet the requirements of the OFT, either the Somerfield store or The Co-operative Group store had to be sold as a going concern to another food retailer.

“I can confirm The Co-operative Group has agreed to sell the Somerfield store in Melksham to Waitrose. "The store will be sold as a going concern and the 50 staff will automatically transfer to Waitrose, with their terms and conditions of employment maintained under employment law. “Staff have been briefed and we would like to take this opportunity to thank them for their commitment and hard work."

A spokesman for Waitrose said they did not yet have a firm date for the store to open, but it was likely to be in March 2010.

Waitrose is also planning to move into Warminster, with planning permission granted for a supermarket on the current Dents factory site in Fairfield Road. The chain previously pulled out of plans to move to the former Peter Black factory site in Trowbridge.