Home improvement and garden retailer Bunnings Warehouse opened the doors to its new 76,000sq ft store in Worle today – it’s ninth pilot store in the UK.

The new Bunnings outlet is on the site of the former Homebase at Queensway Centre and carries the Australian retailer’s usual mix of branded home improvement and garden products, boasting more than 30,000 lines. Like its sister Warehouse pilot stores, it also benefits from a garden centre and offers services, such as paint mixing, key cutting, timber cutting and in-store DIY workshops.

Ahead of the opening, the store’s colleagues have been helping with projects in the Worle area, including building new benches for students at Mendip Green Primary School and making improvements at Weston Hospice Care, painting the reception area and making the walkway wheelchair accessible.

Regional operations manager, Joe Ambrose, said: “All our team members have worked really hard to get the store ready for opening and have undertaken many hours of training to make sure we have the expertise to help customers with home or garden projects.”

To celebrate the opening, which coincides with the release of Wesfarmers' Q1 results, presenter and former British Number One tennis player Andrew Castle is joining a welcome breakfast for team members.

Mr Castle  said: “I’ve had a great morning opening the new store and celebrating with the Bunnings’ team. Like tennis, its takes passion and dedication to become successful and it is clear that everyone here is committed to making the store a hit.”

The store will host two weekends of events on October 28-29 and November 4-5, where customers can enjoy a range of family activities including the famous Bunnings Sausage Sizzle.

Following its acquisition of Homebase in February last year, Bunnings has ploughed ahead with the roll out of its pilot Warehouse stores across the UK. The Wesfarmers’-owned chain, which is the leading player in the Australian and New Zealand home improvement market, has outlined plans to open 20 pilot stores by the end of the year, as it trials and tweaks its proposition the UK.

Its most recent opening was in in Essex this month, on the site of a former Homebase in Basildon.

As at 30 June 2017, Bunnings Australia and New Zealand operated 362 trading locations - of which 249 are warehouses - employing over 40,000 team members.