A £10 million 90,000 sq ft food distribution centre is set to be built on an inner-city Birmingham site dubbed an eyesore by local residents – creating 120 new jobs.

Global operators Euro Foods Group plans to open the new centre on a five-acre location near Wellhead Lane, Aston, breathing new life into a rubble-strewn disused site.

The Aston site was identified as the third in the UK for the international food processing and distribution firm by Stratford-upon-Avon property specialists Dobson-Grey Land and Development.

Euro Foods Group is one of the leading processors, importers, exporters and distributors of quality Indian, Chinese and Thai foodstuffs, including frozen seafood, meat, poultry, vegetables, herbs, snacks and ready meals.

Keri Dobson, managing director of chartered surveyors Dobson-Grey, said: “We were tasked with finding a key distribution site with easy access to the motorway system, which would give coverage to the entire Midlands, including Birmingham, and extending to Manchester, parts of Lancashire and South Yorkshire.

“The site has been vacant for some years after buildings in the area were demolished. There is just rubble on the site at present and it’s been a bit of an eyesore in the area. The local residents are very, very keen to support the development.

“We are doing all the due diligence to remediate the site and are looking to start building work in the middle of next year, which should take around 12 months.”

Euro Foods Group employs 1,500 people worldwide and boasts a UK turnover of £55 million. The new depot will be the company’s third in the UK, with others in Newport, South Wales, and Sunderland.

Group chairman Shelim Hussain said: “This new distribution centre is another link in the supply chain to our customers, who are primarily the leading Indian, Thai and Chinese restaurants in the UK, as well as retail outlets.”