Aldi is on the lookout for a new store location in Wells, it has been announced.

The UK's fifth largest supermarket has been on an expansion drive in recent years as it targets having 1,200 stores open by 2025.

It has now confirmed that it plans to target Wells to open a store. There have been rumours that it is interested in the Travis Perkins site, but the supermarket chain has not confirmed this.

However, a spokesperson for Travis Perkins said: "I can confirm that the lease for our Travis Perkins branch in Strawberry Way in Wells is up for renewal in January 2021.

"While we remain committed to our customers and the local community here, and would like to remain on site, we have started to explore alternative options in case the lease is not renewed."

Aldi, which currently has more than 880 stores across the UK, has identified 12 new locations across Somerset where it is looking for freehold town-centre or edge-of-centre sites suitable for development.

It says each site should be around 1.5 acres and able to accommodate a 20,000 sq ft store with around 100 parking spaces, ideally on a prominent main road and with good visibility and access.

Ciaran Aldridge, national property director at Aldi UK, said: "Aldi is growing rapidly and we are welcoming around a million new customers into our stores every year.

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"But there are also hundreds of towns across the UK where there is not an Aldi, meaning there are hundreds of thousands of people who can't easily access the high quality, affordable food our customers love.

"We are willing to explore all opportunities, including developer-led schemes or existing retail units."