A former estate agent branch has been transformed into "state-of-the-art" opticians following a £425,000 investment.

The new Specsavers store opened in Thorpe St Andrew this week in the former Abbots branch next to Sainsbury's in Pound Lane.

Two familiar faces from the firm's city centre stores will be heading up the operation, including Lee Fowle who is the former store director at Specsavers White Lion Street, St Stephens Street and Longwater Sainsbury’s, and Dan Gray from White Lion Street.

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The store opening has created five new job opportunities, including roles for optical apprentices with further recruitment planned.

Mr Fowle said: "The new location offers an alternative to people who might struggle to visit our other stores - it’s set in the heart of the community and benefits from excellent transport links and thanks to single storey layout is accessible to all." 

The store features an Optical Coherence Tomography scanner which produces a structural scan of the eye to help detect a range of eye conditions up to four years earlier than traditional methods.