SUPERMARKET chain Sainsbury's went on a recruitment drive in Darlington recently to fill more than 100 job vacancies.

The company is refurbishing its store in Victoria Road - one of the 13 former Safeway shops acquired from the WM Morrison chain.

Work will begin to rebrand the Darlington outlet on Wednesday, August 25, with plans to expand the store by 6,000sq ft. It is due to re-open in September.

Sainsbury's held the recruitment day at the Kings Head Hotel, in Priestgate, Darlington, on Tuesday last week, to help find more staff for the store.

A company spokesman said: "We are keeping on 220 colleagues from the current store and taking on at least 100 more.

"We strive to achieve customer satisfaction and so believe that for a store of that size we need that many extra staff."

At 35,000 sq ft, the Darlington store is the largest of the 13 former Safeway stores brought by Sainsbury's.

No price has been given for the individual store, but the value of all 13 stores, plus a Morrisons outlet included in the deal, was given as £110m.