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Lidl wins legal battle to open in-store pub
Budget supermarket chain Lidl has won a long-running licensing dispute concerning plans to open a pub inside its store at Dundonald, Northern Ireland.
Lidl first began its efforts to open a bar area at its Dundonald store in 2019 after a nearby pub was destroyed by a fire, however this was objected to by Northern Irish convenience store operator Philip Russell Ltd.
Lidl tried again in August 2020, with a planning application granted for a public house which would seat 45 customers on the premises.
However, the plans were opposed once more Philip Russell Ltd on the grounds that the German supermarket chain had failed to show that there was an insufficient number of pubs in the area. In February 2021, Lidl withdrew its provisional grant application.
In Northern Ireland, a new licence to sell and serve alcohol can only be granted if another is surrendered, hence why Lidl took the opportunity in 2019 to try and get a licence after one pub burnt down. Later in 2021, Lidl reached an agreement with the owner of a local public house, Rubys, for the latter to give up its licence.
This week, almost six years after the supermarket first made an effort to open the pub, the appeal from Philip Russell Ltd to not provisionally grant Lidl a licence to sell intoxicating liquor by retail consumption was dismissed.
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Addressing the court on Monday (27 January), Mr Justice Colton said: “Turning to the facts of this case I accept that the inability of Lidl to obtain an off-licence at this site is a factor in the motivation behind the current application. Indeed, [it was] accepted in cross examination that had the off-licence application been successful this application would not have been brought. It undoubtedly resulted in a change of approach by the [respondent]. That said the court must look at whether the statutory requirements are met, arising from this change of approach.”
One thing which swung the argument in Lidl’s favour was the 23% increase in the adult population in the local area in the last decade, meaning that there was demand for a pub.
Lidl will be investing around £410,000 into the new pub.
“I accept that it [Lidl] 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,” said Colton. “I am satisfied that it meets the statutory requirements and there is no good reason for refusing the application.”
No opening date for the pub has been specified.
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