A multi-storey car park has today fully re-opened to shoppers for the first time in four years.

The newly refurbished 'purple' car park, located next to the centre's Sainsbury's store, had it's gates opened by the Mayor of Dudley, Cllr Steve Waltho, at a ceremony this afternoon.

Emma Cox was the first member of the public to park her car at the newly opened multi-storey and received a £100 gift card from the centre. Speaking to Black Country Radio, she said: "I just came to the centre to do some Christmas shopping and got handed a gift card! The car park looks great - clean, bright and light and, most importantly, full of spaces!"

The facility has been in various states of closure for almost half a decade. Previous owners, Westfield, had set about a refurbishment program when they decided to sell the shopping centre in 2014. After purchasing the mall, new owners, Intu, have completed the project alongside improvements to many other areas of the property.

The car park opening sees a further 350 spaces opened on the middle deck and a total of 1,000 spaces across three levels brought back to use in time for Christmas.

In total, intu Merry Hill offers over 10,000 free car park spaces for its 23.5 million customers every year. It's currently ranked as the 7th largest shopping centre in the UK, beating Meadowhall, Lakeside and Birmingham's Bullring which sit in 8th, 10th and 12th places respectively.