Specsavers in Alton has moved down the high street and gone under a half-a-million pound makeover in the town centre.

After 12 years in Alton, Specsavers has celebrated the relocation of its branch to 58 High Street with a grand opening event presided over by Paralympic gold medallist, Rachel Morris.

This 6,000 square feet store has six optical testing rooms rather than the previous three, plus a hospital-grade optical coherence tomography machine to diagnose diseases such as diabetes-related retinopathy and glaucoma.

The store operates under an experienced roster of directors; ophthalmic director, Arran Johal, new retail director Cheryl Rutherford, and head of admin Harj Johal, who will be in charge of compliance and health and safety.

As well as a speech by Rachel Morris, who won gold medals in hand-cycling at the 2008 Beijing Games and rowing at the 2016 Rio Games, the grand opening also boasted children’s face painting and live jazz.

Discussing the new store, Arran Johal said: “We’ve been on the High Street for nearly 12 years and we couldn’t see ourselves in any other place. We love taking care of the residents of Alton, but we wanted to do more and with the space in our old store, that simply wasn’t possible.

“With this new store, we can do so much more and see many more customers each week.”

Customers can visit the new Alton store at 58 High Street Alton, GU34 1ET, or call 01420 593600 or go online at: https://www.specsavers.co.uk/stores/alton