New lease of life for vacant site as Lidl gears up for launch

Discount supermarket chain Lidl will open its first store in Bulwell this week, bringing jobs and a new lease of life to a site which has been vacant for almost 20 years.

The store, on Jennison Street off Main Street, will open on Thursday.

The new supermarket forms part of the company’s ongoing expansion and regeneration plans in the UK and has created up to 40 jobs.

Unsuitable to develop for housing, the former New Crown Motors site has remained empty since the car sales forecourt closed in 1999.

Nottingham City Council helped bring about the purchase of the land by Lidl UK and worked in partnership with Lidl and other agencies to develop the site.

Lidl UK’s regional head of property, Joanne Hawley, commented: “We would like to thank all those who have played a part in bringing this new Lidl store to Bulwell. It is great for us to be able to create more jobs and provide investment in the local area, and we can’t wait to start serving our multi-award winning products to the local community.”

The new Lidl UK store is the latest in a series of improvements to Bulwell. Last year Costa Coffee opened in the town’s former HSBC Bank building on Main Street and regeneration works to the market place were completed.

This follows Bulwell town centre achieving conservation area status in October 2016.

Cllr Graham Chapman, deputy leader of the City Council said: “The Council has a track record of trying to redevelop unused sites such as the one on Jennison Street. It helps improve the local environment and boost local economies by creating jobs. It is part of Nottingham City Council’s plan to regenerate Bulwell and neighbourhoods by attracting investment and new businesses to the area.”