Update: according to one of the lovely workmen on site, new and improved Splott Lidl is set to open on Thursday 8th December, just in time for Crimbo.
The store will be almost twice the size of the old one and will have self-checkouts, toilets and baby changing units. It will also be open until 10pm most days.
Everything looks shiny inside and late-stage work is being carried out to the car park and surrounding pavement to make sure it’s all ready for the grand opening.
Cardiff Council’s Planning Committee has today approved plans for the East Tyndall Street Lidl in Splott to double in size.
The proposal, filed in November 2015, was passed without objection, leaving the German discount chain free to demolish the current Lidl and build the replacement store.
Residents of Splott may have recently noticed that the hand car wash next to the store has moved to Newport Rd. This may have something to do with Lidl’s plans to extend eastward and to build their new customer car park on this site.
The current Lidl on East Tyndall Street was built 21 years ago and is classed as a ‘first generation’ Lidl store. The replacement store will be brighter and more modern, designed to improve shoppers’ experience.
In the design and access statement accompanying the application, Lidl states that the ‘new configuration will enhance the shopping experience for customer’s’.
The new site area is 6,337 square metres, with an increase of 575 square meters to the sales floor, including a ‘welfare area’ which will house a larger staff room and a customer toilet.
The population of Splott has only risen by just over a thousand people in the last ten years according to census figures (12,074 in 2001 to 13,261 in 2011), so one may question the need for a bigger store. However anyone queueing down the aisles on a Friday night or Saturday afternoon is sure to welcome these plans for extension.
View the design and access statement here: http://bit.ly/1T5TbdK