Lidl announces plans to open massive new Luton warehouse creating up to 1,000 jobs

Lidl first opened in the UK in 1994 and has since expanded to over 690 stores nationwide

The new warehouse will be around a million square feet (PA)

German discount retailer Lidl has announced plans to open a massive new warehouse in Luton that will create up to 1,000 jobs.

The group on Monday said that the new warehouse will be around a million square feet, making it double the size of any of Lidl’s warehouses in the UK.

It will manage the supply and distribution of both food and non-food items to Lidl stores in and around the M25. Lidl aims to open five new London stores over the next two months, including in Shepherds Bush, Walthamstow Central, South Ruislip, Hornchurch and Rosehill. The new warehouse will support those stores.

“As more London households choose to shop at Lidl we are committed to the continued investment in our operations and infrastructure to support our growth,” said Ingo Fischer, Lidl’s board director for expansion and development in the UK.

“With five new stores opening in the next two months alone, and further store expansion and development plans in place for the Greater London area across the new financial year and beyond, this new warehouse is vital in supporting our ambitious expansion plans in and around the M25,” he said.

Lidl first opened in the UK in 1994 and has since expanded to over 690 stores nationwide. Even though it’s still eclipsed in scale by German rival Aldi, it now controls an estimated 5.1 per cent of the UK’s grocery market, according to Kantar Worldpanel, up from around 3.5 per cent two years ago. Aldi’s market share is almost 7 per cent, making it the fifth largest player.

Lidl’s new London warehouse forms part of a £1.45bn investment commitment in Britain across this year and last year, and follows the opening of two distribution centres in Exeter and Wednesbury – in the West Midlands – last year.

It plans to open three more warehouses in Doncaster, Bolton and Peterborough over the coming months, and construction has also begun on two warehouses located in Avonmouth and on the Eurocentral industrial site in Scotland respectively. Those two will replace Lidl’s existing warehouses in Weston-Super-Mare and Livingston.