14:41, 11 Apr 2026<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1_lidl-Dundonald.jpg\")
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The Lidl supermarket site in Dundonald, Co Down(Image: Google Maps)<\/p>\n
Budget supermarket chain Lidl <\/a>is building a pub next to one of its shops on the island of Ireland. The bargain retail giant has started work on the boozer beside one of its Co Down<\/a> stores, where strict NI licensing laws cap the number of premises that can sell alcohol.<\/p>\n The bar, which can hold 60 customers, will boast cosy booths and sell off-licence drinks when it opens this summer. It will operate in a separate premises next door to its store in Dundonald, which is located around 10km from Belfast<\/a>.<\/p>\n Gordon Cruikshanks, Lidl’s managing director for Northern Ireland, said: “After six years in the planning process, we’re delighted to today confirm the development of a brand new public house and associated off-sales located adjacent to our Dundonald store.”<\/p>\n Licensing laws in the North mean supermarkets <\/a>that want to sell alcohol must buy a licence that has been “surrendered” by another business and must show there is an inadequate number of existing licensed premises in an area to meet the public’s needs.<\/p>\n Lidl was unable to pass the inadequacy test for a standard off-licence, but could for a pub <\/a>as two nearby bars had closed in recent years, Daily Star<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n The German-owned retailer won a legal battle in January to open the bar after it had faced a High Court challenge from rivals who argued Lidl <\/a>was trying to use an unlawful loophole to operate an off-licence.<\/p>\n They tried to argue that Lidl was just trying to open a pub to find a new way to run an off license after its initial plans were rejected some years ago.<\/p>\n Building has already started(Image: Lidl)<\/p>\n But Mr Justice Colton said the law did not stand in the way of a business taking an innovative approach and said: “The fact that the application is a novel one is not a reason for refusing it.<\/p>\n “I accept that it has concluded that the public house will be profitable, knowing that if it closed through lack of profitability an evitable consequence would be that the off-licence permission would lapse following any such decision.<\/p>\n “I am satisfied that it meets the statutory requirements and there is no good reason for refusing the application.\u201d<\/p>\n It is expected to open this summer and offer an “off-licence service along with a public house”. The company said it will serve “selected lines” from Lidl’s beer, wine and spirit range, with a focus on promoting local suppliers.<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? <\/strong>Making us your preferred source on Google<\/a><\/strong> means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply <\/strong>click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lidl is set to open its first pub on the island of Ireland this summer after winning a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[73],"tags":[663,79,31651,18,19,17,19267,191937,17924,22115],"class_list":["post-431144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-belfast","tag-business","tag-co-down","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lidl","tag-lidl-supermarkets","tag-pubs","tag-supermarkets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Building](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_Lidl-pub.jpg\")
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