Oswestry Smithfield site cleared for £45m complex

The new Smithfield Livestock Market opened earlier this month

Work has begun on a £45m cinema, supermarket and restaurant complex in Oswestry.

The former Smithfield market is being demolished to allow a new Morrisons store to be built, alongside a five-screen cinema, restaurants and other shops.

Phase two of the project, based off Shrewsbury Road, follows the building of a new, smaller livestock market.

Building work is understood to be due to be completed next year.

Planning permission was granted in 2011, although critics claimed the out-of-town development would lead to fewer shoppers visiting the town centre.

Roy Jones, chairman of the Smithfield Livestock Market, said farmers were "delighted" with the work to date and the replacement for the 50-year-old market.