A MARKET town is set to receive a jobs boost after it was announced that a major retailer is to take over the vacant lot left by the collapse of Woolworths last year.

The large store, on High Street, in Northallerton, has been taken over by household goods retailer, Wilkinson, with the creation of 60 jobs.

The shop will now be fully refurbished, with bosses hopeful that the new store will be open at the beginning of December, in time for the Christmas rush.

It has been boarded up since the former Woolworths store was closed down on December 27 last year, with the loss of 36 jobs.

Despite rumours of interest from several high street chains no firm offers or plans materialised for the site until Wilkinson indicated its interest several weeks ago.

The announcement has been welcomed by the Mayor of Northallerton, Councillor Tony Hall, who said it was ‘excellent news’ for the town.

"I am delighted that the shop is to be taken over by Wilkinson as it sends a message that Northallerton High Street is a quality high street," he said.

"It is a big unit and we are pleased that it will be filled by a shop similar to Woolworths in terms of what they sell. The number of jobs created is also excellent news."

The store remains boarded up while the refurbishment work takes place but signs announcing the new branch have been put up, along with recruitment contact details.

Dave Jones, local marketing manager for Wilkinson, said: "We are still quite early in the building process so things may change but we hope to have it open before Christmas at least.

"As a company we have been trying to get into Northallerton for some time. We are very keen to get this store opened and, although we haven’t finalised the details with local job centres, we hope to create about 60 jobs.

"In recent years the company has opened a number of new stores in the North East and it is an area that has proved to be a good one for us," he added.