Calls to the Advertiser offices and a comment on our website had suggested a multi-millionaire property owner in the town had refused to sell buildings on the site of the closed White Cow pub in Nottingham Road, which would have prevented the supermarket from moving in.

But a spokeswoman for Tesco said that plans were going ahead as confirmed to the paper back in March when we originally ran the story.

She said: "There have been no issues with the plans to turn the premises into a Tesco Express store.

"The sale went through in March."

The spokeswoman confirmed that the Tesco store would open before February next year.

She also said rumours were untrue that the site would also be used as a petrol station.

Bulldozers from Staffordhire-based Falcon Construction Service, a shop-fitters firm that recently converted the Dog and Topper pub in Nottingham into a Tesco Express, were at the site on Wednesday, June 24.

A spokesman for Erewash Borough Council said they had not yet received any planning documentation from Tesco regarding the development.

A spokesman for Greene King, which leased the White Cow before it closed, was unable to comment on the rumours.

The property owner, based in West Hallam, was not available for comment.

Tesco's plan to buy the White Cow caused concern among regulars, residents and nearby businesses when we revealed it in March, with many fearing it would increase traffic around nearby Kensington Junior School.

Staff were made redundant at the pub when it shut in March.