Bargain supermarket to open first ever pub with cosy booths and takeaway booze
Bargain supermarket to open first ever pub with cosy booths and takeaway booze
Share:
A BARGAIN supermarket will open its first ever pub with cosy booths and takeaway booze. Lidl has won a legal battle to open a bar within one of its stores in Northern Ireland. In 2020, the German discounter secured planning permission to build a tap room on the site of its shop in Dundonald, a few miles outside of Belfast.
![[Lidl supermarket exterior.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/2024-front-entrance-facade-lidl-949655804.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
Commenting at the time, a Lidl spokesperson told The Sun the concept would offer shoppers "an off-licence service along with a public house". It was also reported that the pub would have a separate entrance to supermarket and feature a seating area with booths for customers to sit and enjoy a drink.
The scheme would require the supermarket to spend £410,000 and reach an agreement with the owners of a local pub to surrender their license. Laws in Northern Ireland mean that no new alcohol licenses can be granted unless another one is given up. However, Lidl's plans to open a boozer faced objection from Philip Russell Ltd, who run a number of carry-outs across Northern Ireland.
They tried to argue that Lidl was just trying to open a pub to find a new way to run an off license after its initial plans were rejected some years ago. These claims, alongside others, were shot down in court, with the judge ruling in the supermarket's favour.
Mr Justice Colton said: "I accept that it has concluded that the public house will be profitable, knowing that if it closed through lack of profitability an evitable consequence would be that the off-licence permission would lapse following any such decision.
