Major UK supermarket announces it's opening 11 stores in the run-up to Christmas

Aldi has announced it will open 11 new stores across the country between now and Christmas 2024.

From this week, the discount supermarket chain, which already has more than 1,000 branches nationwide, will welcome customers to new stores in Sedgley in the West Midlands and Castle Douglas in Scotland.

Consistently voted the UK's cheapest supermarket by watchdog Which?, the German-born brand will also open shops in Muswell Hill in north London , Horsham in West Sussex and the Scottish county of Midlothian later this month.

The run-up to the festive season will see additional openings in Totton in Hampshire, Cribbs Causeway in Bristol and Pwllheli in Gwynedd, Wales.

Branches in Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester and Banffshire are also due to open before Christmas.

The new locations are part of Aldi's long-term target of 1,500 stores across the UK.

Jonathan Neale, Real Estate Managing Director at Aldi UK said: '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.'

At the end of October, Aldi launched its Christmas menu, with one product in particular leaving shoppers stumped.

Available for £1.99, the supermarket is selling hollow chocolate eggs in festive packaging - which they are calling 'Chreaster Eggs'.

After catching shoppers' attention in Aldi's aisles, some expressed enthusiasm for the new eggs, with one X user commenting: 'I'll take them all thank you!'.

Another said: 'I love Aldi. Just when you think they can't do better. This is so cursed I actually love it.'

But others were less impressed. One person wrote: 'Eggs! Just no, Aldi. We all know that Christmas chocolate is either sphere, triangular, circular or hexagon shaped!'

Equally dismayed, someone else said: 'I saw these in my Aldi on Saturday and I was so confused.'

The controversial Christmas product is available in red foil as Garry the Gingerbread Man and blue foil as Parker the Penguin, with Aldi suggesting they make for the 'perfect stocking filler'.

This year the budget supermarket was awarded winner of the Good Housekeeping annual Christmas Taste Test , beating rivals including Waitrose, Tesco, M&S and Lidl in multiple categories.

But it's victory was not without controversy.

Eggs are typically seen as a symbol of rebirth and life, and have long been a feature of Easter celebrations marking the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Some shoppers criticised Aldi's creation of 'Chreaster' with one saying: 'May as well cut the Christmas story short and "roll the stone away" immediately with a Chreaster Egg, no point in prolonging it all.'

Aldi cheekily replied: 'We could turn the entire year into one big festive event'.

A shopper questioned how far Aldi would go in its merging of holidays and teased: 'Where's the Chreasterween eggs?'

In response, Aldi said its 'final destination' is 'Easumalloweemas eggs'.

Julie Ashfield, Managing Director of Buying at Aldi UK, argued that the 'Chreaster Egg' trend has 'taken off' because of its blending of holidays.

She said: 'At Aldi we're always looking for fun and creative ways to enhance our Christmas range.

'The "Chreaster egg" trend has really taken off because it blends Easter's most popular treat, the Easter Egg, with the beloved season of Christmas.

'Whether it's a stocking filler or a conversation starter, we hope shoppers love our charming Dairyfine Hollow Character Eggs.'