Farmfoods opens at old Lidl site in Gosport but remains tight-lipped over Cowplain store

Lidl closed its Forton Road supermarket on May 28 after a major reshuffle amid ambitious expansion plans. Now Farmfoods has taken over the site, which opened on Saturday.

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The store is open 8am to 10pm on weekdays, 8am to 8pm on Saturday and 10am to 4pm on Sunday. As well as frozen food, Farmfoods offers groceries, chilled foods, bread, milk, fresh fruit and vegetables and household items.

Meanwhile, Farmfoods is remaining tight-lipped over another new store in the area in London Road, Cowplain. The News understands that Farmfoods will be moving into the site of the former Lidl store after a job advert for a shop manager appeared on recruitment site Total Jobs. A spokeswoman for the company said they had “not been made aware” of plans for a Cowplain store when asked by The News.

A spokeswoman for Lidl previously said of its shop closure in Gosport: “The store on Forton Road will be closing on May 28 after 25 years of service. We have a newer store just two mins away off Fareham Road, which connects to Forton Road.”

Lidl maintains a nearby store in Fareham Road in Gosport. The supermarket giant has confirmed it is looking to open 19 new stores in Hampshire this year according to its 2023 list.

Lidl has said it wants to have a total of 1,100 stores across the country as it seeks new sites across the UK.

The business is planning on opening new sites in Portsmouth, Fareham and across Hampshire amid a rapid rise in sales last year – increasing by 26 per cent in 2022. Part of these proposals is to relocate specific shops.

The spokeswoman said similar proposals are planned for Gosport. She added: “Gosport is on our site requirements list and our teams are actively looking for sites in Gosport for a new Lidl store.”

Employees at the Forton Road shop would be redeployed if possible, the spokeswoman said. Lidl opened 50 new supermarkets last year.

As previously reported in The News, LIdl GB CEO Ryan McDonnell said: “We’ve made it clear that we’re more committed than ever to ensuring that every single household has access to a Lidl store.”