THE grand opening of Eden is set to start with a Latin American themed launch procession on Thursday morning.

A lone drummer will start at the Cornmarket entrance at 9.35am, and follow a route through to Eden Place. Along the way they will be joined by more musicians and dancers, who will perform the finale also in Eden place.

The centre will then fully open at 10am and the public will finally get the chance to see inside it and be able to start shopping at the likes of House of Fraser, Marks & Spencer, HMV, Gap and H&M.

And over the opening weekend, a free, 80 feet tall big wheel in Frogmoor will give people the chance to see just how Wycombe has changed, with grand panoramic views of the town. It will offer rides for four days, from March 13 until March 16, and operate from 11am to 6pm, and until 7pm on Friday and Saturday.

And to make sure there are no hold-ups in the roads on opening day, new smart' lights, which monitor traffic flow and adjust accordingly, have been installed.

Keith Shaw, highway network management and traffic manager at BCC said: "Traffic engineers have been working flat out to get these traffic signals up and running efficiently in time for Eden's opening.

"Synchronising several sets of traffic signals is a complex and time consuming operation, and we apologise to motorists who may have been inconvenienced while work has been carried out."