A £30 million revamp of Pitsea will finish with the opening of a new supersized Morrisons supermarket by Christmas 2014, the Echo can reveal.

Major changes to the town have been in the pipeline for 15 years, but they will get underway this month with the demolition of the Railway pub and finish with the opening of the new supermarket.

The project, led by London & Cambridge Properties, will also see a new market area created and a new Aldi store.

Frank Nash, director of Charfleets, who run Pitsea market, said: “Pitsea cannot keep up with all the development happening elsewhere and this is a much needed boost. Pitsea is a thriving community and I look forward to seeing it grow once again and move to the forefront of peoples minds.”

The demolition of the Railway hotel in Northlands Pavement will start in the next two weeks and that site will eventually become home to the new market. Work will then start in the summer to knock down the old Co-Op building and then from September, a new Aldi store will be built. From April next year work will start on the new Morrison’s supermarket, which will be 75,000 sq feet making it bigger than Asda at Pipps Hill and Sainsbury’s on Eastmayne.

Concerns have previously been raised about the future of the market, but Nick Burgess, director of London & Cambridge, said it would continue throughout the work.

He said: “The most important thing at this stage is to reinforce that fact that none of these changes will immediately affect Pitsea market. We need to keep the market trading as long as possible before it moves to its new space. This will be until December and I assure them their trading won’t be harmed.”