THE famous Burnden Park pitch where Bolton Wanderers scored their most famous victories will in the next few weeks become -- a car park.

Builders are finally to move on to the famous site at Burnden Park to begin a major re-furbishment programme.

The derelict Normid store on the Manchester Road site will be first on the list to be bulldozed to make way for a new superstore.

Retail giants have yet to secure a contract on the site but Bolton Council have confirmed that they are negotiating with big names such as Tesco and Asda.

Bolton Council gave the go-ahead for the new store to be reconstructed on the old Normid site.

The building will be bigger than before and will tie in with a petrol filling station which was given the green light on the site earlier in the year.

A new car park will partly cover the old soccer pitch -- now stripped of turf after Bolton Wanderers left for their new stadium at Middlebrook in 1997.

A space has been left vacant on the site with a possible leisure complex pencilled in by planners.

Grangefern Properties -- a combination of Orbit Developments, United Co-op and Normid -- will now reconstruct the existing store.

Builders with bulldozers are expected to flatten the crumbling building which has been plagued by vandals over the last few years.

The store was also badly damaged by a serious fire.

Councillors from Bolton Council's Planning and Highways Committee gave their official seal of approval to the scheme on Thursday.

Local residents welcomed the facelift with the plans receiving just one objection from a resident who thought the site should be used solely for leisure purposes.

Plans to build a Tesco store on the pitch were due to go before Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott's Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, earlier this year because of its impact on the town centre.

But the application, alongside a similar plan for the Bolton Greyhound Stadium nearby, was withdrawn.

Applicants Bolton Wanderers and Normid feared the result of the inquiry would have delayed building work and decided to remodel the old store. The new-look complex is expected to spring to life next year.

Howard Barrit, a spokesman for Bolton Council's planning department, said: "The development is long overdue. Workmen will begin to demolish the bulk of the existing superstore and reconstruct it very soon.

"There are talks under way to find a retailer. Big names have been mentioned but there is nothing definite as yet."