Lidl NI announces start of work on new £6.5m Carryduff supermarket

The retailer confirmed today (Thursday) work will start within two weeks, injecting a new lease of life into the centre which has lain derelict for almost seven years.

The store will include an expansive sales floor of 1,420 sq metres with wide aisles, long tills, restrooms and baby-changing facilities as well as an in-store bakery and redeveloped parking for more than 200 vehicles.

Lidl NI’s wider plans for the site include the creation of an additional 9,000 sq ft retail unit, four smaller units and a drive-through restaurant or coffee shop, with 35 new jobs directly created when the new store opens.

Around 120 jobs will be created throughout the construction and development phase of the new store which will open early next summer.

The company, which will open another new store in Strabane later this year, anticipates a total investment in the Carryduff site of around £10 million.

Chris Speers, regional property director, Lidl NI, said: “The redevelopment of Carryduff Shopping Centre represents a major investment for Lidl Northern Ireland, both in the local community and in our wider retail estate portfolio, so we’re delighted to be advancing our plans with construction work starting on our exciting plans to create a new, state-of-the-art store that will welcome shoppers right across the area from next year.

"We’d like to thank the local community for their support and look forward to bringing our successful ‘Big on Quality, Lidl on Price’ proposition to thousands of more visitors when we open early next summer.”

One of the region’s oldest shopping centres, built in 1985, Carryduff Shopping Centre closed in 2013. Lidl NI acquired the site in August 2020 and obtained planning permission for the new store and wider redevelopment in February last year.

Last month, the retailer secured planning permission to build a new £4.5 million supermarket in Coleraine at a largely vacant site at the northern end of the Riverside Retail Park. The project will see a vacant unit demolished to make way for the new 26,640 sq ft store, supporting around 35 jobs.