Lidl set to open 10 new stores before Christmas - including one in Bristol

German supermarket chain, Lidl, has committed to opening 10 more stores across the UK before Christmas - including one in Bristol.

Lidl currently has approximately 960 stores nationwide, but is aiming to reach more than 1,100 across England, Wales, and Scotland. The retailer predicts that the new branches opening before the end of the year will create around 400 jobs, and reach thousands more households.

One of the new stores will be in Berwick Green in Bristol, near the site of a new housing estate in Patchway, next to Cribbs Causeway shopping centre.

Other new stores will open in Bovey Tracey in Devon and Stirchley in Birmingham, as well as three in London - while the currently Lidl stores in Connah's Quay in Wales, and Dagenham and Chessington in London, are set to reopen after being refurbished or relocated.

Lidl is now the sixth biggest UK supermarket, with a 7.6% share of the grocery market, according to the latest figures from Kantar. That puts it just behind Morrisons, which has an 8.6% share, and German rival Aldi, which has grown its share to just under a 10th.

The German supermarket chain also announced it has agreed to sell 12 new stores, which are in the process of being built, as part of a leaseback deal worth £70 million.

Investment group Roadside Real Estate, through its joint venture with Meadow Partners, will acquire the stores, which are set to open by February next year in locations including Manchester and Saffron Walden.

The deal means Lidl will get an immediate cash boost and then pay rent on the shops, which will be on 25-year leases.

Lidl Great Britain’s chief development officer, Richard Taylor, said: "Our plan to open 10 new stores before Christmas demonstrates our continued commitment to providing more communities across the country with access to affordable, quality food, as well as employment opportunities.

"But we still have big ambitions for our expansion plans to open hundreds more Lidl stores in the future. Our teams are constantly scouring the country for new sites, identifying opportunities not just in towns where we don’t currently have stores, but also in areas where existing stores are experiencing increasing demand."