Aldi to open 80 new UK shops but will Connah’s Quay still get its store after Somerfield site goes back on the market?

Aldi has announced it is to open 80 new stores in the UK creating up to 5000 jobs, the move will give the German-owned company 700 shops across the country.

Aldi is now the UK’s sixth-biggest supermarket with a 5.6% market share and has recently added two new stores in Buckley and Broughton to its existing Flintshire estate.

With established shops in Mold and Flint there was a promise of a new Aldi store for Connah’s Quay.

The supermarket chain confirmed in December 2014 it was to open in Connah’s Quay creating 35-40 new jobs – the announcement was widely covered by local and regional media outlets and quoted comments from Flintshire County Council and Aldi themselves appeared both online and in print.

At the time an Aldi spokesperson said;

“We are delighted to be able to confirm our plans for a new food store in Connah’s Quay.

We are committed to investing in Flintshire and this represents our next step to honour that commitment.”

It’s believed the old Somerfield site in Connah’s Quay had been earmarked for a possible new Aldi and was taken off the market pending future development.

In late January, 13 months after the intial ‘noise’ around a new Connah’s Quay outlet, the former Somerfield site appeared back on the market, Mason Owen the Liverpool based property consults have been advertising the nine year lease at a ‘significantly reduced’ rate of just £250,000 per annum.

So, has Aldi abandoned plans for a store in the capital of Deeside?

We asked their media people for a comment about their plans for the area, they didn’t reply.

However, we’re aware that talks are at an ‘advanced stage’ between Aldi and Flintshire County Council to purchase part of the carpark adjacent to the vacant Co-op owned building and the land where the old council offices previously stood.

One person with ‘their ear to the ground’ told us Aldi’s fall back plan had negotiations fallen through, would have been to use the old Somerfield store for a new Aldi store.

With 16,000sqft of sales floor the Somerfield site is around the same size as the current Aldi store model however the German supermarket chain is looking to increase the size of its stores in the UK and have been opening some new builds at an increased 19,000 sq ft – could we see Aldi build a bigger than usual store in Connah’s Quay?

Expect a planning application to be submitted anytime soon!