Ely targeted by German discounter Lidl as they move to expand number of stores across Cambridgeshire

‘It’s rammed – new Lidl opens and attracts huge crowd’ has been the oft repeated headline for one of the UK’s fastest growing discounters.

In fact that was the headline today after it opened its latest store at Boston, Lincs.

And it’s a headline that could happen sometime soon in Ely if the retailer finds the premises it is looking for.

Lidl has revealed a list of 80 places across the country where it wants to open a new store.

And in Cambridgeshire they would like to open a further eight – four in Cambridge itself, three in Peterborough and one in Ely to complete the mix.

Lidl has only three stores in the county at the moment – St Neots, Huntingdon and March.

The news may be welcome for shoppers but will add even more competition to an already packed field.

Lidl had one of the most successful trading periods over Christmas of any retailer with sales up 17 per cent.

It proudly announced too it had sold roughly 600 tonnes of Brussels sprouts, 17 million mince pies and over 800,000 litres of Champagne and Prosecco.