A discount shop insists it is not too downmarket for Haywards Heath.

A new 99p Store is due to open in leafy Haywards Heath on Friday, but said there have been “rumblings” of dissent among residents that it will not fit in with the character of the town.

The £250,000 shop will create 35 jobs when it opens in South Road.

The chain is working with Jobcentre Plus to fill the new positions.

Graeme Barnes, the promoter of the new store, said cheap items such as sundried tomatoes, olive oil and jalapeno peppers show the chain can be posh too.

But he admitted the process of opening the new store had been hard.

He said: "Haywards Heath is certainly a very challenging new opening for us. We are delighted to be opening up in the town.

"In the last few years, we have opened up more than 100 stores and there have been the odd murmurings on Facebook and suggestions the town may be too posh for us but once we open, the same people who seemed to be making these comments are first in the queue.”

The store opening is part of a UK expansion plan which has seen the chain double in size in the past three years.

The discount chain has hit the headlines in the past few years after it was dubbed “not posh enough” for towns such as Lymington in Hampshire.

A spokeswoman for Haywards Heath and District Business Association said she believed residents would shop at the store and thought it was good news for the area.

She said: “You need a balance in any high street. “It is better than an empty shop. I am sure shoppers will take to it. Even if you have loads of money you will still go in for something.

“As long as we continue to attract people to the other stores then it is good for shoppers.”

Hussein Lalani, the 99p Stores’ boss, said: “There was a time – a long time ago – when the Mercs and Land Rovers used to be parked blocks away.

"Now they come with heads held high.”

The shop is currently looking for someone to open the store, who will win a trolley dash through the aisles.

To apply, email VIP@6starpr.co.uk.