A “SOCIAL” supermarket selling cut-price food for hundreds of low-income families in Barrow is taking shape.

The new shop, run by drug and alcohol rehabilitation group The Well, is set to be completed in the next few months.

Work has been ongoing since the project was given the green light by planning bosses in October.

The Well’s Dalton Road offices have been refurbished from top to bottom ready for the new supermarket, with a new floor for the shop completed this week.

Food prices at the store are set to be around a third of the cost of traditional supermarkets.

Products will be donated by local food suppliers and traditional supermarkets offering surplus items.

It is hoped the store will also act as a first port of call for the group to point people struggling with other problems to get support.

Ged Pickersgill from The Well Communities said: “It is coming along very well.

“A good chunk of the work is already done.

“Lately we have been putting the floor in.

“We have seen great support from food providers.

“All of that is sorted.

“We just need the building to be finished and we will be ready to go.”

The food on offer at the supermarket will focus mainly on healthy fruit and vegetables.

Two planning applications relating to the building sailed through Barrow’s planning committee meeting with a unanimous show of hands by councillors on all sides of the political fence.

All the money made from sales would be pumped back into the store and projects by The Well.

Barrow MP John Woodcock also gave the thumbs up - citing rising poverty and obesity rates across Barrow and Furness.

He said: “There are people in our community who are suffering genuine hardship but thankfully there are many others – including foodbank volunteers – who make life a bit more tolerable for the poorest among us.

“Our goal must be to create an England where foodbanks are no longer needed, but while that work goes on we should welcome new initiatives that are designed to help those who are struggling to get by.

“The social supermarket being planned at the Well in Dalton Road is one such scheme and I feel sure it will be welcomed by Barrovians.

“ Selling affordable fresh food is important in the battles against child obesity and poverty.”