ALDI, the UK’s fifth largest chain of supermarkets, is stepping up its efforts to find a site in or around Wellington to open a new store.

The company is on the lockout for 12 locations in Somerset, and already has a supermarket at Bathpool on the outskirts of Taunton and wants to open another in the county town. Aldi plans to have 1,200 stores open by 2025 – it currently has 880. It says it would like to build a new store in or around Wellington on a site of 1.5 acres with about 100 parking places, ideally on a prominent main road and with good visibility and access.

Ciaran Aldridge, national property director of Aldi UK, said: “Aldi is growing rapidly and we are welcoming one million new customers into our stores every year. But there are also hundreds of towns across the UK without an Aldi, meaning hundreds and thousands of people who can’t easily access the high quality, affordable food our customers love.”