Aldi has DIY solution for a second Cambridge store

Although there will be no space for a Post Office inside it, despite a city councillor's request.

Supermarket chain Aldi is proposing to create its second Cambridge store on Newmarket Road, and it could open later this year.

The German business has submitted a planning application to the city council proposing to take on the site where a Wickes DIY store and an Office Outlet now stand.

Aldi says it has a “longstanding commitment to further invest in Cambridge”, and this proposal “represents the only available and suitable site to deliver another store in the city”.

Aldi is also proposing to remove 10 places from the car park, meaning there will be 114 spaces, and has said it will pay to change the “confusing” road markings.

Bike parking spaces will be increased from eight to 24 outside the entrance. There will be 52 in total, which is 10 fewer than the council’s suggested number for the site, based on its size, but Aldi says “it would force landscaping and parking spaces to be lost as space is limited within the existing site”.

Other supermarkets are already well represented in the area as there is a Tesco store about 100m away and an Asda in the Beehive Centre, about 600m away. However, Aldi says that as a “deep discounter” it sits in a distinct retail category, and its Histon Road branch is the only other retailer of this kind in the city.

Aldi said the proposal is an opportunity for a further discount foodstore to provide further choice and competition. If permission is given the store could create about 50 new jobs, the supermarket has said.

Abbey ward’s Labour councillor Richard Johnson contacted Aldi to request a Post Office at the site, but Aldi said there would not be space.

Cllr Johnson said he is now hoping the Tesco nearby will be able to accomodate a Post Office and has written to them.

He said: “There was a Post Office on Newmarket Road until only recently. As a consequence that area of Abbey ward isn’t serviced by a Post Office and if you go further east the area has not been serviced by a Post Office in years.”