Aldi planning to open additional stores in Chichester, Bognor and Midhurst

The German-based discount supermarket chain said it is looking for 20 additional store locations in the county, as part of an expansion drive which would see 1,200 extra stores open by 2025.

The chain already has store in Barnfield Drive, Chichester.

The UK’s fifth largest supermarket previously listed ‘requirement towns’ on its website, which included Chichester, Bognor and Midhurst, but this is the first time it has announced its proposals to open more stores.

Aldi is also looking to open stores in Bexhill, Brighton, Burgess Hill, Crawley, East Grinstead, Eastbourne, Goring, Hailsham, Hastings, Haywards Heath, Horsham, Littlehampton, Newhaven, Portslade, Shoreham, Uckfield and Worthing.

Aldi, which currently has more than 880 stores across the UK, has identified 20 new locations where it is looking for freehold town-centre or edge-of-centre sites suitable for development.

It says each site should be around 1.5 acres and able to accommodate a 20,000 sq ft store with around 100 parking spaces, ideally on a prominent main road and with good visibility and access.

Ciaran Aldridge, national property director at Aldi UK, said: “Aldi is growing rapidly and we are welcoming around a million new customers into our stores every year.

“But there are also hundreds of towns across the UK where there is not an Aldi, meaning there are hundreds of thousands of people who can’t easily access the high quality, affordable food our customers love.

“We are willing to explore all opportunities, including developer-led schemes or existing retail units.”

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