Lidl superstore opens at Portchester

Lidl's new superstore in Portchester opened its doors to its first customers today.

A queue of shoppers were waiting outside as the new store opened at 8am.

And after the ribbon-cutting ceremony, they were quick to bag opening bargains including 30 per cent off selected meat and poultry and up to £30 off selected non-food products.

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The store has been proposed for at least three years, but it faced objections from the local authority, which was concerned that its opening would take shoppers from the main shopping precinct and that it would see valuable industrial space lost to retail.

A huge campaign was launched, with Lidl writing to thousands of residents to muster support.

A petition in support of the proposals gathered more than 4,300 signatures and a crowd of 400 packed out the Ferneham Hall to watch the council’s planning committee make its final decision.

The plans were approved and work started to build the 1,424sq m store, which has created 40 new jobs.

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Lidl UK’s regional property director, Oliver McGuinness, said: ‘We’d like to thank all those who have played a part in bringing this new Lidl store to Portchester.

‘It’s wonderful for us to be able to create more jobs and investment opportunities in the area and we can’t wait to start serving our multi-award winning products to the local community.’

The store’s opening date was posted on its Facebook page.

But it caused some upset as it declared the store to be in Fareham, not Portchester. After hundreds of people commented on the post, the location was corrected.