YORK'S long-awaited Morrisons supermarket is looking to recruit 45 managers.

The store - which has been in the pipeline for eight years - is due to open at the Foss Islands development site in autumn this year.

Now the chain is calling on "experienced retail food managers" to visit a recruitment event for the new 78,000 square foot supermarket.

A Morrisons spokeswoman said: "There are around 45 management and supervisory positions on offer in a variety of departments including, bakery, customer café, grocery days and nights, checkouts, butchery and shop floor.

"Anybody who would like to discuss which role best suits their skills and experience should visit the recruitment event to have an informal chat with one of the Morrisons team to find out more."

The event will take place at the York Pavilion Hotel, in Main Street, Fulford, next Monday and Tuesday, from 4pm to 8pm.

Similar events will be taking place in July to recruit staff to fill a further 300 staff positions across all departments in the store.

Facilities at the new York store will include a customer café serving hot meals and snacks, a petrol filling station, dry cleaning facilities, cash point machines and car parking.

The spokeswoman added: "There's also Market Street, Morrisons' unique collection of traditional, specialist counters serving more freshly-prepared food than any other supermarket retailer.

"From the butcher, baker, fishmonger, pizzeria, pie shop and cake shop, salad bar and sandwich bar, provisions merchant and cheese counter, the choice is endless.

"That's why there is such a wide variety of jobs on offer."

The Press told in January how the supermarket was expected to bring around 350 jobs to the city, as work finally begun on the huge project at Foss Islands - eight years after plans for the site were first debated.

The redevelopment of the 14.5-acre complex got under way in the new year, following the relocation of the council's waste disposal depot to James Street.

The store, which will form part of a massive £40 million development in Foss Islands Road, is expected to open this autumn.

The site is expected to include a 4,000 square foot restaurant, a bus route into the site, a 3.5-metre wide cycle path and pedestrian links into the city centre.

DIY chain Homebase is also expected to open a new store at the Foss Islands development in December 2008.

The current Homebase store next to Sainsbury's will close, leaving room for that store to double its size in a bid to win York's battle of the supermarkets.

The Foss Islands development was one of the main reasons for a new congestion-busting link road.

The £2.7 million James Street link road, which has been welcomed by motorists and local businesses, connects Layerthorpe and Lawrence Street.


The road to a superstore

* August 1999 - WM Morrison supermarkets loses out to Harrogate-based Gregory Properties Ltd in its bid to develop the waste disposal site.

* December 2002 - It emerges that Morrisons is in the frame to lease a new site on the Foss Islands site for a massive new store.

* March 2003 - Proposals to turn the Foss Islands depot into a huge shopping complex are revealed - and include a Morrisons supermarket.

* February 2005 - An artist's impression for the Foss Islands development is revealed, following a decision by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister not to call in the multi-million pound scheme for a public inquiry.

* January 2007 - The Press tells how the new supermarket is expected to bring 350 new jobs to the city.