Supermarket giants are going head to head in Keighley in a battle for customers.

As Asda prepares to open a £20 million superstore in the town this summer, neighbouring Sainsbury’s has unveiled plans for a £5 million facelift.

The two supermarket sites are just a stone’s throw from each other, separated only by a railway line.

Sainsbury’s is planning to expand the front of its Cavendish Street store, with a new glazed entrance lobby and extend to the side where the café will be relocated.

“A full refurbishment is taking place — once the store layout has been reconfigured there will be some extra space to expand popular ranges,” said a Sainsbury’s spokeswoman.

“This is part of our ongoing programme of investment in our stores to ensure they offer a high-quality shopping environment that our customers enjoy visiting.”

She added: “We are always aware of what our competitors are doing but we do regularly refurbish our stores anyway.”

Subject to planning approval, the work will begin this spring and will be carried out in phases to minimise disruption for customers. The scheme should be complete for the summer.

Asda said construction work on its new store was progressing well and an early-August opening was scheduled.

The store — which will be open 24 hours — will boast a 40,000sq ft sales area, around 60 per cent of which will be given over to food and the remainder to other items. And planning approval has been given for a petrol station alongside the store.

Philip Bartram, Asda’s property communications manager, said: “Our store will create approximately 370 new full and part-time jobs for local people and, in times of economic difficulty, will give the local community access to our low prices.

"Also, we are delighted to have received planning permission for the new petrol station, which will provide low cost petrol for our customers."

A third supermarket company, Aldi, last year was granted permission for an extension to the southern elevation of its store in nearby Gresley Road.

But to date the scheme - which would see floorspace increase by almost a quarter, from 765 to 960 square metres - has not been implemented.