Specsavers, Newark, to move from Morrisons space to former Millets premises in Middlegate

A Newark opticians is moving to much larger premises, enabling it to extend its optical and audiology services.

Specsavers will move from Morrisons to the former Millets premises in Middlegate. It will open on December 18.

Newark store director Sarbjeet Soar said: “We’re really excited to be moving to our new store, which is around three times bigger than our current location.

“We have simply outgrown where we are now. It has been 26 years, but the time has certainly come.”

“The larger store has already given us the opportunity to expand our team so it will be fantastic to have more hands on deck.”

The old store will close at 3pm on Monday, December 14, and the new one opens at 8.30am on Friday, December 18.

The new store will have six optical consulting rooms including a dedicated sound-proof room for audiology, and a contact lens area.

The latest high-tech optical equipment will be used throughout and will include an optical coherence tomography (OCT) machine usually found in hospital eye departments.

This 3D scanning technology allows optometrists to view the eye in more detail than ever before, helping to detect several eye conditions, including glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy.

The audiology director at Specsavers in Newark, Jake Tyers, said: "Our hearing service has seen a two-fold increase for intake of new customers over the last two years, so we’ll benefit greatly from the extra space the new store provides for hearing aid fittings and wax removal procedures.

"Most importantly, it will allow us to increase our testing capacity so customers can get the appointment times they desire every time."

Specsavers also runs a home-visiting service for those who cannot get to their local store unaccompanied.

The leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, David Lloyd, said: "It's fantastic that this move has been secured.

"It’s sure to have a positive impact on the town centre as although Specsavers has been part of the town for a while, its previous location meant shoppers might just drop in via the supermarket car park rather than pass the other excellent shops that Newark has to offer."

More than 36 million customers are registered with Specsavers and more than a third of people who wear glasses in the UK buy them from Specsavers

Specsavers runs a home-visiting service for those who cannot get to their local store unaccompanied.