Where Lidl plans to open four new stores in north Essex

The German chain is seeking hundreds of new sites across the UK and says it is on track to meet its ambitious target of opening 1,000 new stores in the UK by the end of 2023.

According to its latest list of site requirements, the supermarket chain is looking for four sites in north and mid Essex.

Here is where abouts:

• Braintree East
• Clacton (relocation)
• Colchester North
• Colchester West

Lidl already has two sites in Colchester, in Abbot's Road and Gosbecks Road, with a third being built at the former Homebase site, in St Andrew's Avenue.

The new store could well be the north store mentioned in the site list.

Work is well underway, with the new shop expected to open this winter.

Lidl plans to open four new stores in north Essex - including two in Colchester

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Lidl plans to open 50 news stores across the UK this year as part of its huge expansion.

The move will open up 2,000 new jobs across the UK.

The retailers is one of the UK's 'big six' supermarkets competing with Tesco, Asda, Morrison's Sainsbury's and Aldi.

The discount supermarket announced the openings as part of a £1.3 billion investment, with the aim of launching 1,000 new stores by 2022 - 50 of which will open to customers by December this year.

Lidl is looking at opening its new sites in town centres, the edge of city centres, retail parks and metropolitan locations across the country.

The company said the new shops will all feature modern tech, with solar panels and electric vehicle charging points for customers to use.

Christian Härtnagel, at Lidl GB said: “We are calling on developers and landlords up and down the country to help find potential sites for us to build Lidl stores, which demonstrates the continued ambition we have to further expand our store portfolio across the nation.

"Despite the challenges of the past year, we still managed to meet our ambitious target of opening, on average, one new store per week across Great Britain."