Lidl presses ahead with new city store plans

Lidl has submitted a licensing application for the store it intends will replace the Three Counties Hotel on Hereford’s A465 Belmont Road, indicating its plans here are still on track.

The discount supermarket is seeking a licence to sell alcohol during its proposed opening hours of 7am to 11pm seven days a week.

It will operate a Challenge 25 policy on alcohol sales, requiring any customer looking under 25 to produce proof of age.

Lidl’s outline planning application to redevelop the site was submitted last March but has yet to be ruled on by Herefordshire Council. This says the proposed supermarket will employ 40 full-time staff when complete.

It has drawn nearly 230 objections, including from other supermarkets who say it will drain trade away from the city centre as well as creating  traffic problems on the busy Belmont Road.

Fourteen submissions in support of the plan have also been lodged.

The council’s latest “target determination date” of December 23 has already passed.