HUNDREDS of eager shoppers turned out at Cheshire Oaks to watch TV star Joanna Lumley officially open the highly anticipated new M&S superstore this morning.

The actress was joined by M&S chief executive Marc Bolland as she cut the ribbon to mark the 151,000sq ft store’s first day of trading.

Crowds of excited people – some of whom had been there since 8am – couldn’t wait to get inside to catch a glimpse of the long-awaited flagship store, which includes newly developed home and beauty concepts and a large food hall featuring thousands of types of top quality food.

The new store, which has taken three years and 550,000 man hours to build, is said to encapsulate the best M&S has to offer and is the largest M&S store outside of London.

It is also the greenest, most sustainable store ever built by M&S, and has been created with carbon-absorbing hemp wall panels and specially engineered softwood timber in the entire roof and first floor.

A free clothes recycling initiative, championed by Joanna Lumley, known as ‘Shwopping’, aims to help reduce the 500,000 tonnes of clothing that go to landfill every year.

Customers are encouraged to take a piece of unwanted clothing to deposit on each visit to Cheshire Oaks.

At the launch, Mr Bolland became the first person to embrace the new initiative, ‘Shwopping’ his very first M&S suit – which he bought when he landed the top job – in favour of a new sustainable suit.

Store manager Hilary Wilkinson said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have finally opened the store today, and the reaction from customers so far has been fantastic.

“With a long building process, which has involved so many members of the local community, we expected to see lots of people at the opening.

“However, we’ve been overwhelmed with the number of people who came from far and wide to see Joanna and Marc help us to open the store.

“It has been wonderful to see shoppers explore everything the store has to offer and we look forward to welcoming them back in the months and years to come.”