Jobs boost for town as store gets set to open

The store, on the site of the former Conservative Club and Job Centre at the corner of St George’s Road and Clifton Drive North, will open on Thursday, November 21 at 8am, with a programme of entertainment from 7am.

It is expected to bring 30 new jobs and around 10,000 customers every week.

“We have been looking to come to St Annes for some time and everyone is really excited about the opening,” Aldi area manager Richard Newton told a meeting of St Annes Chamber of Trade this week.

“Our product range has grown from 500 to around 1,400 and we are confident we will offer something for everyone.”

Advance notice that Mr Newton would talk at the meeting prompted the biggest crowd in years for a monthly Chamber of Trade meeting and the attendees packed into a room at the Lindum Hotel included David Grayson, manager of Aldi’s likely biggest rivals in the town, Sainsbury’s.

“As a store, Aldi will be more than welcome in the town and will serve both Lytham and St Annes,” said Chamber chairman John Moxham. “We are all looking forward to the opening.”

The £5.5m development at a key gateway to St Annes includes 34 one- and two-bedroom apartments, the first of which look likely to be handed over to residents before the end of the year.

The site will include 60 underground car parking spaces, some of which will be clearly marked for residents of the apartments.

The time limit for shoppers, Mr Newton explained to the meeting, would be 90 minutes, enforced by a state-of-the-art Parking Eye system which photographs vehicle registration plates as they enter and leave.

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