The Australian retail giant which bought Carlisle's Homebase store has revealed further details of its shop openings across the UK.

Bunnings Warehouse bought the DIY chain last year for £340m with ambitious plans to transform stores across the country including Carlisle.

Although Bunnings are unable to say when it will open its rebranded city store at Kingstown, the company has confirmed ten pilot warehouses are planned in the UK by the end of 2017. A spokeswoman said: "Our first two stores in St. Albans are performing well, with Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes due to open later this month. We have just announced that our fifth store will be opening in Folkestone, Kent in July and all other locations remain confidential at this time."

Bunnings Group, trading as Bunnings Warehouse, is Australia's largest household hardware chain. The chain has been owned by Wesfarmers since 1994, and has stores in Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Since taking over Homebase, Bunnings has scrapped zero hour contracts for hundreds of its British shopworkers in order to “build a strong culture within the company”.

As part of the takeover Bunnings will refit and rebrand all 265 Homebase stores within five years.