{"id":970876,"date":"2026-05-19T11:19:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:19:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/970876\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T11:19:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T11:19:17","slug":"lidl-ramps-up-northern-ireland-expansion-plans-with-new-bid-for-supermarket-in-north-down-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/970876\/","title":{"rendered":"Lidl ramps up Northern Ireland expansion plans with new bid for supermarket in north Down \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lidl<\/a> has revealed plans for a new store in north Down as it ramps up its expansion strategy across the north.<\/p>\n

The retailer has notified Ards and North Down Borough Council<\/a> of its intention to develop a new supermarket on the outskirts of Donaghadee<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It comes just days after Lidl lodged plans for a mixed supermarket and housing development in Ballycastle<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The proposal in Donaghadee involves a 25,000 sq ft store on a four-acre field on the Bangor Road, next to the Co Down town\u2019s rugby club.<\/p>\n

\"Live:<\/a>\"Huge<\/a><\/p>\n

While the bid is at an early stage, Lidl has confirmed it will hold a public consultation event at Donaghadee Rugby Club next month, where its full plans will be on display.<\/p>\n

The planning<\/a> application in north Down is the latest in a flurry of new store plans announced by the retailer in recent months as it pulled the trigger on a strategy to target smaller population centres.<\/p>\n

Alongside the proposal for a new build supermarket in Ballycastle, Lidl is planning brand new store locations in Sprucefield, south Belfast, Castlederg, Ballymena and two new sites in Derry City, where it currently has just a one shop.<\/p>\n

In February, Lidl<\/a>, which currently has 44 shops, announced its ambition to reach 60 shops within the next five years. <\/p>\n

But it said those plans will depend on the pace of the planning system. <\/p>\n

Senior figures at Lidl expressed \u201cserious concerns\u201d with MLAs<\/a> over the pace of planning reform in the north.<\/p>\n

The company has been left frustrated by the stasis of its bid to develop a second site in Derry City after securing planning approval in 2021.<\/p>\n

Lidl\u2019s public event in Donaghahee Rugby Club will take place on June 18 (4.30pm to 7pm).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lidl has revealed plans for a new store in north Down as it ramps up its expansion strategy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":970877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5011],"tags":[257058,94546,1009,161343,1144,12717,16,15],"class_list":["post-970876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-northern-ireland","tag-ards-and-north-down","tag-donaghadee","tag-lidl","tag-lidl-ni","tag-northern-ireland","tag-planning","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116600974540975330","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=970876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/970876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/970877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=970876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=970876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=970876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}