A £9m John Lewis store is to open in Tunbridge Wells next week.

Called John Lewis at Home, it will stock a total of 30,000 lines, but won't include fashion.

The store in Longfield Road, Tunbridge Wells, is the partnership's fourth store in the UK to adopt the new format, joining Poole (pictured left), Croydon and Swindon. It has created 190 jobs.

Cllr Roy Bullock leader of Tunbridge Wells council, was shown around the new 40,000 sq ft former Homebase store. He said: "This is hopefully the first stage of John Lewis's presence in Tunbridge Wells. I'm sure residents in Tunbridge Wells and the wider area are going to flock into this store. I welcome it."

Tim Harrison, John Lewis head of format development, said the business was associated with a lot of potential schemes and would not comment on any further plans for Tunbridge Wells.

But the town had a fantastic catchment area, estimated at 280,000 people. "Certainly John Lewis has a bright future in Kent and we really would welcome future developments in Tunbridge Wells," he said.

He was confident that traffic congestion in North Farm would not affect trade. "I think we're at the right end, because the congestion is at the other end. I know it's a difficult area but we've got our own parking, good access and there's a lot of retail here. And people in the south east are more tolerant to queueing