WORK has started on Eastleigh's multi-million-pound state-of-the-art leisure centre.

The Wells Place car park, next to the Tesco store, has become a building site as the way is prepared for the biggest redevelopment in the town centre for 20 years.

Town centre manager Dennis Chandler said: "The first day of the closure of the Wells Place car park went very smoothly."

Signs have been directing motorists to the Swan Centre rooftop car park via the Blenheim Road entrance.

There has been an increase in the number of motorists using the Southampton Road multi-storey car park. It was noticeable that the upper floors were filling up faster than normally.

The £24m scheme will have restaurants, bars and shops alongside a new 20-lane bowling alley and nine-screen cinema.

The 125,000 square feet project has taken two years of planning and promises to be the largest economic boost to the town since the Swan Centre was finished in 1989.

It will also be a shot in the arm for the town's night life and a big tonic for Eastleigh movie fans who have been starved of a cinema since The Regal closed in 1980.

The developers are hoping the scheme will be completed by the end of 2008.