Lidl has revealed Rye is on its wish list of possible locations for a new store. The low-cost supermarket announced its half billion pound expansion plans for the UK on Monday, April 28, with a new store in Rye amongst its ambitions.
Potential locations have been listed in a new Lidl brochure which sets out the areas the German company thinks would be good for a new store. It says the wish list of 250 places represents locations which could eventually be developed, rather than confirmed plans or store openings.
While a new store opening in Rye is a long way off and with no detail about possible locations, it still represents a change for Lidl. Eighteen months ago the supermarket chain denied any interest in the town to Rye News.
The brochure says Lidl is looking for prominent locations with easy access in both the centres and outskirts of towns, with space for over a hundred parking spots and strong traffic flow. Fifty plus sites have been identified in Sussex, Kent and Surrey.
Richard Taylor, chief real estate officer at Lidl GB, said: “As we enter our fourth decade in Great Britain and hurtle towards a thousand stores, there are still so many parts of the country crying out for convenient access to a Lidl store. That’s why we welcome the measures proposed in the Government’s Planning and Infrastructure Bill – they recognise the urgent need to remove barriers to development and support the kind of growth we at Lidl are working towards.”
Lidl is now appealing to landowners and land agents to come forward with potential sites and is offering what it describes as "a competitive finder’s fee structure" for a "previously unseen site".
The news comes as rival store Aldi anxiously awaits news from National Highways. The agency has said no planning permission should be granted for Aldi's planned supermarket on Winchelsea Road in Rye until access arrangements are improved. Proposals for the new store, along with homes and retirement housing, were submitted in 2023 and are currently with planners at Rother District Council.
