Shoppers will today be able to see the fruits of a supermarket chain’s £2.5 million investment with the opening of Otley’s new Netto store.

Local residents were due to get a first glimpse inside the company’s larger new supermarket on Cross Green – which replaces its smaller town centre outlet – at a preview last night. Shoppers were able to look around the store and sample a variety of free products, but nothing was on sale.

Today will be the store’s first day of trading, with Netto laying on a range of attractions including a brass band and Bubbles the Clown to mark the event.

Netto’s UK managing director Charles Kay said: “This new-look Netto super-market represents a significant retail investment for Netto and the people of Otley.

“We have invested £2.5 million into bringing a much larger, brighter and better laid-out store to the town as well as a large free car park and number of new jobs.”

Town Mayor Councillor Gerard Francis was set to cut the ceremonial ribbon and declare the store open.

The company has had a presence in Otley since 1991, when its Boroughgate shop was one of the first Netto stores to open in the UK.

An exhibition in 2007 that unveiled the plans for the bigger store, which includes a car park with around 70 spaces, drew an overwhelmingly favourable response from residents.

But some householders in the Cross Green and Pool Road area did raise concerns about potential traffic and noise problems at the new location.

But Netto recently abandoned plans to try for extended opening times and also agreed to limit its deliveries to times approved by Leeds City Council.

The new store will be open from 8.30am to 8pm, Monday to Friday, from 8.30am to 4pm on Saturday, and for any six-hour period it chooses between 10am and 5pm on Sundays or Bank Holidays.

The delivery restrictions mean no noisy activity can take place within its loading bay outside the hours of 7.30am to 9pm from Monday to Saturday, and no lorry deliveries can be made at the back of the store on Sundays.

The Netto opening marks a continued period of growth for supermarkets in the town, which has also recently seen a new Sainsbury’s and, a few years before, Waitrose store open. There is also speculation that another supermarket could open when the Ashfield Works site, off Westgate, is redeveloped.