Discount grocery chain Lidl to open its first pub
Supermarket Lidl in Valras-Plage
(CNN) — German discount grocery chain Lidl has begun building its first ever pub, which is expected to open this summer.
The pub and its associated liquor store, located in Northern Ireland, will offer Lidl’s range of wines, beers, ciders, spirits and liqueurs, according to the retailer.
The premises will be located in the eastern Belfast suburb of Dundonald, next to one of Lidl’s existing stores, it said in a statement.
The pub will be able to seat 60 people and will have a floor space of 60 square meters (646 square feet).
“Lidl has been a part of the Dundonald community for more than 20 years and in that time our shoppers and residents have been unable to avail (themselves) of Lidl Northern Ireland’s full product range,” Gordon Cruikshanks, regional managing director for Lidl Northern Ireland, said in the statement.
“Dundonald is a thriving town which has experienced a significant population boost of more than 20% in recent years, placing extra demand on the need for a public house in the locality,” Cruikshanks added.
The pub’s construction comes more than a year after Lidl overcame long-running legal challenges over its plans for the pub.
In January 2025, a High Court dismissed an appeal from a rival drinks trader, which had argued that Lidl’s proposed premises were unsuitable for a license and that the pub would not attract enough customers.
“The concept of a licensed premises attached to a supermarket is undoubtedly a new development,” a High Court judge said in the ruling, but added: “The restrictive nature of the 1996 Order does not mean that it prevents innovation and development of new ways to run licensed premises.”
Under Northern Ireland’s licensing laws, a court will not grant a pub or a store a license to sell alcohol if it thinks there are enough pubs or liquor stores in the area. However, one property can surrender its license to another that is of a similar nature, such as a pub to a pub – which happened in the Lidl case.
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