England cricket legend Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff was in Preston last week as he opened Specsavers’ 800th UK and Irish store.
The ex-England all-rounder cut the ribbon at the practice located in Sainsbury’s Preston Superstore alongside retail director Chris Shore and ophthalmic director Sean Buckley.
Flintoff spent a couple of hours in the store, meeting customers and store colleagues, before taking the opportunity to have an eye test.
‘One of the first lessons they teach you in cricket, football or any sport as a kid is to “keep your eye on the ball”. But, so many of us take our sight for granted,’ he said.
‘I’ve heard how nearly half of all sight loss is preventable, so I’m fully behind Specsavers,’ he added.
Specsavers co-founder Dame Mary Perkins was also in attendance at the store in Deepdale and expressed her pride ay having opened yet another practice.
‘When we opened our first Specsavers store in Bristol in 1984 it was impossible to imagine that we would one day be opening our 800th store; it is an amazing milestone,’ she said.
Perkins added that the high-street opticians had agreed a deal to open a further nine locations in Sainsbury’s stores before the end of March next year.