Work starts on new supermarket
Work is well underway at the site of Shrewsbury's newest supermarket.
The metal frame of the new Lidl store on Oteley Road has been put up and contractors are busy preparing the ground works.
The German retailer, which also has an outlet on Whitchurch Road, had said the store, which will create up to 40 jobs, would open in February.
But work at the site, close to Shrewsbury Town Football Club, ground to a halt last July after a contractor went into administration.
Now it is projected that the store will open in the early summer.
Lidl had previously been through a protracted process to gain planning permission for the store, with members of Shropshire Council's planning committee 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. In October, 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 stores in the future.
Last week a company spokeswoman said: "We are on track to open our doors early this summer."
