SUPERMARKET giant Tesco says it will start advertising in summer up to 200 jobs for local people at its new Hoyland superstore.

The vacancies will open at the new store which is currently under construction on Market Street and is on track to open before Christmas.

The supermarket issued a statement following speculation that it was already recruiting internally from among its current workers, who wanted to transfer from other stores.

A Tesco spokesman said: "We are looking forward to starting recruitment for our new store in Hoyland in the summer. We'll be working with Jobcentre Plus to recruit people from the local area for a range of full and part time roles.

"As with all our new store openings, we'll also always consider requests from colleagues at other stores in the area to transfer to the new store - for example where they live closer to the new store."

He added that exact number of jobs still had to be confirmed but would be in the 140 to 200 "ballpark" based on the size of the store.