Lidl plans to open first ever in-store UK pub after winning high court battle
Popular supermarket chain Lidl is set to open its first ever pub in the UK after it won a high court battle recently.
The budget discounter obtained planning permission in 2020 for a tap room to be located in its Dundonald store just outside Belfast. It has now been granted the license after a judge dismissed an appeal against the move.
Rival tradesman Phillip Russell Ltd lodged an appeal against the move, claiming Lidl had "failed to show there are inadequate licensed premises in the vicinity". The appeal was rejected by Mr Justice Colton in a court ruling on January 27.
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The judge is said to have recognised the uniqueness of transforming part of a supermarket into a pub, as he said: “The fact that the application is a novel one is not a reason for refusing it."
According to the Belfast Newsletter, the proposed scheme will see Lidl spend £41,000 to fit a new in-store pub alongside an off-sales area. It involved reaching agreement with the owners of a local bar to surrender that licence.
Phillip Russell Ltd, who runs several Northern Ireland off licenses, raised the opposition by claiming that Lidl had failed to establish an inadequacy required under the Licencing (Northern Ireland) Order 1996.
It was also alleged to have been an impermissible attempt to circumvent the legislation by effectively making another application for an off-licence. This ruling was overruled by the judge who said that Lidl had provided the necessary inadequacy.
Mr Justice Colton further pointed out that, if the application is successful, then there will only be one licensed premise within the area where there were previously two.
It was further determined that, even though it "will not meet the full demand for licenced premises", it was suitable due to its proximity to shopping and transport facilities, alongside a increasing adult population.
The judge went on to confirm that Lidl had made a bona fide application to operate the public on/off-license pub on its premises. He 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.
"I am satisfied that it meets the statutory requirements and there is no good reason for refusing the application."
When the Daily Record approached Lidl for further comment, the supermarket said: "We have no update to share on this at present."
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