A FURNITURE chain's newly opened shop in Reading is its largest in the South.

The new Hammonds store in Oxford Road is set over two floors and boasts 11 display rooms.

The company, whose headquarters are in Leicestershire, has 96 stores across the country and the Reading branch is now the fifth biggest.

Richard Hammonds, the company's joint managing director and grandson of the founder,

officially opened the new premises with deputy mayor Cllr Jeanette Skeats.

He said: "We have been looking for a suitable site in Reading for many months and now we have a superior high street location."