Work halted on new Lidl near Shrewsbury Town's football ground as construction hit by delay
Budget supermarket firm Lidl has confirmed its new store in Shrewsbury has been hit by a delay.
The firm, which is building a new shop on land at Shrewsbury Town Football Club, had halted work on the project in July after a contractor went into administration.
Oliver Thomas from Lidl said: "Due to events outside of our control we have incurred very minor delays in the construction of our new store on Oteley Road.
"We are pleased to confirm that work will re-commence very shortly, with a view to opening doors in early summer 2018.
"We'd like to take this opportunity to thank the local community for their patience and look forward to providing further updates on progress over the coming months."
It is understood that the company has appointed a new contractor and work on the project will start again in the next few weeks.
Yorkshire-based contractor Weiser Construction had been awarded the contract to carry out the work but went into administration in August.
Lidl went through a protracted process to gain planning permission for the store, with councillors repeatedly deferring the application.
The application had also been the focus of a row with fellow food retailer Waitrose, which had planning permission to build a store near to the Wyevale Garden Centre on Oteley Road.
Waitrose warned that granting planning consent for the Lidl store would put its project in jeopardy.
Last week Waitrose revealed it had taken the decision to abandon its bid to build the store.
The new store in Shrewsbury will add to Lidl UK’s existing store portfolio of 670, and will form part of the company’s growth plans which hope to see this increase to 1,500 store in the future.
When planning consent for the store was granted in April Lidl UK’s regional head of property, Stuart Jardine, said: “There’s been much anticipation for this new Lidl store and it’s great that we are now in a position to break the ground and start the build.
"We are extremely grateful for all the support that we have received so far, and would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding whilst we enter this next phase of the development.”
