Lidl to open its first ever pub in UK after profitable courtroom battle
Budget supermarket chain Lidl is building a pub next to one of its UK shops. The bargain retail giant has started work on the boozer in Belfast, where strict licensing laws cap the number of premises that can sell beer.
The bar, which can hold 60 customers, will boast cosy booths and sell takeaway booze when it opens this summer and will operate in a separate premises next door to its store in Dundonald in east Belfast.
Gordon Cruikshanks, Lidl’s managing director for Northern Ireland, said: “After six years in the planning process, we’re delighted to today confirm the development of a brand new public house and associated off-sales located adjacent to our Dundonald store.”
Licensing laws in Northern Ireland mean supermarkets that want to sell alcohol must buy a licence that has been “surrendered” by another business and must show there is an inadequate number of existing licensed premises in an area to meet the public’s needs.
Lidl was unable to pass the inadequacy test for a standard off-licence, but could for a pub as two nearby bars had closed in recent years.
The German-owned retailer won a legal battle in January to open the bar after it had faced a High Court challenge from rivals who argued Lidl was trying to use an unlawful loophole to operate an off-licence.
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.
But Mr Justice Colton said the law did not stand in the way of a business taking an innovative approach and said: “The fact that the application is a novel one is not a reason for refusing it.
“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.”
It is expected to open this summer and offer an “off-licence service along with a public house”. The company said it will serve “selected lines” from Lidl’s beer, wine and spirit range, with a focus on promoting local suppliers.
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