THE long queues when York’s new John Lewis opened for the first time at 9am yesterday demonstrated just how excited many people are by the department store’s arrival.

The store is just one element of the new Vangarde shopping park at Monks Cross, which also includes also a new M&S and a Next.

But we already had these stores in York. The new John Lewis is the chain’s only store between Newcastle and Sheffield.

Such a prestige arrival is a welcome addition to York’s shopping scene. Hopefully more shoppers will choose York over rival centres such as Newcastle or Sheffield. The 300 new jobs created at the £90 million Vangarde centre are also very welcome.

However, not everyone welcomes this development. Many city centre retailers remain worried about the expansion of York’s out-of-town shopping.

The city council must therefore keep a close watch on what happens to footfall in the city centre. And we hope the authority will continue to find ways of supporting businesses there – for example by looking at its parking policies and doing what it can to boost evening trading.

The city centre is the beating heart of York. With its beautiful architecture, medieval streets, historic buildings and great shops, we believe there is plenty to make visitors and shoppers come back again and again. But we cannot afford to take that for granted.