STARTLED residents living near the new Morrisons site in Whitefield were woken up in the middle of the night when work on pulling down the Church Inn pub suddenly began.

Bulldozers moved in on the boarded-up Holts pub in the early hours of Sunday morning - without any prior warning for the baffled neighbours.

Pilkington Park ward councillor Michelle Wiseman said: "I got a call from an outraged resident just about midnight wondering what on earth all that noise was so late at night.

"I was so angry - not because it was a late-night call - but because no one knew about it. They expected me to know and I didn't.

"The problem is that the council still has this old town hall attitude where they don't feel it is necessary to inform residents or even councillors that buildings in residential areas are being knocked down in the middle of the night."

Speaking at a meeting of Whitefield and Unsworth Local Area Partnership on Tuesday, Morrisons development director Chris Evenson said the timing of the demolition had been agreed with Bury Council because it would minimise disruption and avoid the need to temporarily close a section of Bury New Road.

One resident said at the meeting: "I live as close to the site as anyone and I have to say that, while there was noise, it wasn't too loud and we were not put out."

Mr Evenson apologised on behalf of Morrisons for the disruption caused by the work and said steps would be taken to ensure residents would be given advance notice of further demolitions.

Bury Council head of planning and engineering, Mr Brian Daniel, said: "A site inspection showed that the nearest house was some 60 yards away and was not likely to suffer significant disturbance.

"With hindsight though, we should have let local people know what was happening and we will try to do so in future."

A ceremony led by Bury South MP Ivan Lewis was held two weeks ago, signalling the start of major construction work of the supermarket, which is due to open in September next year.

It followed more than a year of controversy in which the Church Inn was given listed-building status in a bid to save it, before the brewery backed down threw in the towel and sold the site to Morrisons.

At Tuesday's meeting, Mr Evenson hosted a question-and-answer session on what people can expect to see at £20m complex.

Q. When will Morrisons open?

A. September 15, 2008 Q. When will Cafe Roma open next door?

A. February or March, 2008.

Q. How many jobs will Morrisons create for local people?

A. In total, about 350 jobs will be created - about 150 full time and 200 part time. All but about 10 will be recruited from the local area. The remainder will be transfers of senior management.

Q. Will it be a 24-hour supermarket?

A. No. Morrisons don't have any round-the-clock stores. The opening hours are yet to be finalised, but will be similar to other stores, which are approximately 8am until 8pm Monday to Saturday and 11am until 4pm on Sunday.

Q. Will parking be free?

A. Yes. Parking will be allowed at the supermarket for two hours. The car park in the supermarket basement is likely to be closed at night, but exterior spaces will be open.

Q. What will parking provision be like before it opens?

A. There will be 70 spaces on the site until the development begins. Bury Council planning officers insisted that they must be made available when they gave permission for the development.