ALMOST 150 new jobs could be created in Radcliffe by the opening of a newly refurbished call centre next week.

The employment boost comes from homeware retailer Dunelm, whose redeveloped national Customer Contact Centre is based under their store in Green Street, after it beat off competition from a number of other sites across the country to house the centre.

The expanded facility, which was previously used as a basement area, will allow the customer service operation to almost triple in size from its current 72-employee capacity.

After a 10-week renovation project, the centre will now be able to hold a maximum of 220 people, allowing for future recruitment as the service expands.

Dunelm will be opening the refurbished building underneath with a ribbon-cutting ceremony next Tuesday (June 16).

A Dunelm spokesman said: “We are delighted not only to be offering more jobs and training opportunities in the future to the community of Radcliffe, but to be investing in transforming an old space into a new innovative working environment to support and serve our business growth.

“A sincere thank you goes out to all the many people and organisations involved in the incredibly busy 10-week project including considerable support from Bury Council.”

Stella Smith, Mayor of Bury, and Bury Council chief executive Mike Owen, will be joining Dunelm chief executive Will Adderley for the centre’s official opening on Tuesday.

Plans for the expanded centre, which will deal with inbound calls only, were approved by Bury Council in May, with Dunelm gaining 1,006 square metres of office space.

Councillor Rishi Shori, deputy leader of Bury Council, said: “This is absolutely fantastic news for the people of Radcliffe.

“I believe we have beaten off competition from a number of other locations across the country, which is a real achievement.

“To have Dunelm's main call centre located here in Radcliffe and to see so many potential jobs being created is a real coup for the town.”