ASDA have announced an opening date for a controversial new supermarket which Quinton residents campaigned against for years.

The retail giant won a recent planning application to Sandwell Council to extend the proposed store, which was originally going to be a Netto, and have set the opening date as Monday, October 17.

The Kings Highway pub was bulldozed to make way for the new Hagley Road West retail park and the battle to stop dates back four years.

Residents and shopkeepers complained the Tesco superstore on Ridgacre Road and nearby Co-ops mean that there is a saturation of superstores.

ASDA this week declared its Quinton outlet will be a “smaller format store but will stock more than 10,000 grocery products.”

Asda Supermarkets area manager for Quinton, Rebecca Passmore, claimed the new store would be a hit with local customers.

She said: “Despite being a small Asda supermarket we think customers are going to be delighted with the new store.

“We hope they will be bowled over by the range and there will be no price premium for anything we sell.

“The new supermarket will also boast PayPoint, lottery and cash machines.” ASDA confirmed jobs would be created due to the new store but would not give the details of how many positions would be on offer to local people.

However, Amrit Singh, who has run Quinton Post Office for six years, is furious the ASDA store, which is bigger than the original planned Netto, has been given planning permission.

He said: “The whole process has been an farce, we collected signatures for a petition and campaigned against this new store but were ignored.

“And now ASDA gets planning permission to have a bigger store than the original one that residents didn’t want in the first place.”