Aldi announces 11 new store openings as Christmas supermarket wars begin - is one coming to YOUR town?

Aldi today revealed the locations of 11 new supermarkets it plans to open across Britain over the coming weeks before Christmas , including a store in London .

Doors will open at new outlets at Sedgley in the West Midlands and Castle Douglas in Scotland this week as the German discount chain battles for festive shoppers.

Further stores are also set to open later this month at Muswell Hill in North London, Horsham in West Sussex, Loanhead in Midlothian and Pwllheli in North Wales.

And the expansion continues next month with supermarkets set to open at Totton in Hampshire, Cribbs Causeway in Bristol and Macduff in Banffshire before Christmas.

There will also be new Aldi stores welcoming customers in December at Hetton-le-Hole in Tyne and Wear and Ashton-in-Makerfield in Greater Manchester.

The supermarket said it was also refurbishing more than of its existing 15 stores within the next two months, as the fight for Christmas shoppers intensifies.

Aldi has already announced a 'long-term target' of 1,500 UK stores, and said it was investing £800million in expanding its presence in the country this year.

Jonathan Neale, Aldi UK's real estate managing director, said: 'At Aldi, we're committed to making high-quality, affordable food accessible to everyone.

'Our new store openings are a testament to our ongoing investment in the UK, and we're thrilled to bring Aldi's unbeatable prices to even more communities ahead of the festive season.'

Aldi also said in today's announcement that its store assistants receive starting pay of £12.40 per hour, with those based in London earning £13.65 per hour.

In addition, the firm claimed it remains the only supermarket to give staff paid breaks, which is worth more than £900 a year for the average store worker.

It comes two days after Sainsbury's revealed it will price match up to 200 Aldi products in its smaller stores – saying it was becoming the first UK supermarket group to extend such a scheme into its convenience stores.

Sainsbury's confirmed its Aldi Price Match scheme would become available in 1,400 of its shops - now including 800 smaller stores in addition to 600 supermarkets already.

The firm said Sainsbury's Local stores would now carry up to 200 products price matched to Aldi, including milk, bread, butter, pasta, rice and chicken.

Aldi was named the cheapest supermarket of 2023 by consumer group Which?. Tesco , Asda , and Morrisons all price match Aldi on some products in their larger stores.

In September, an investigation by the BBC 's Panorama claimed that dozens of Tesco products the supermarket price-matched to Aldi were not like-for-like.

Items including chicken nuggets, blackcurrant squash and chicken kievs were found to contain less of their main ingredient compared to their Aldi equivalents, according to the study.

Tesco said at the time that it constantly reviewed the quality of its products and had clear processes in place to ensure its price-match products were comparable to Aldi.

While Sainsbury's, Asda and Morrisons also offer Aldi price-matched products, Panorama did not find clear evidence of a pattern of consistent differences in the amounts of main ingredients in their items compared with the discounter's equivalents.

Last month, Sainsbury's said it would be hiring 20,000 more shop workers, warehouse staff and drivers for the Christmas period as the retailer prepares for festive shoppers.

Hourly pay for in-store and warehouse employees ranges from £12 to £13.50, depending on the location and the role, and between £13 and £14.65 for drivers.