Aldi has announced the start of initial operations at its new supermarket distribution centre in Leicestershire, said to be the biggest in the UK. The German supermarket chain has made the first delivery from its new Distribution Centre at Bardon as the first phase of operations begins at the vast new site, which stretches over 1.3 million square feet, or more than 120,000 square metres.
Aldi insists its scale puts it way beyond any other Distribution Centre in the UK, saying 65 of its stores or nearly 17 full-sized football pitches could comfortably sit inside the building. Once fully operational, the facility will serve nearly 350 stores across the country, able to handle nearly seven million pallets of stock a year, the retailer said. Bardon will also function as the supermarket’s National Replenishment Hub, supporting its existing network of warehouses.
The distribution hub is made up of five linked buildings, including four ambient and six temperature-controlled chambers for chilled and frozen products.
Out front are 100 HGV bays, with a further 40 at the rear. The high street giant says it’s the lowest carbon density warehouse across the Aldi South Group, and the 19,000 solar panels installed on the roof will, at times, be able to generate all the electricity the site needs.
According to Aldi 1,000 workers will be employed there, including many who will transition from their sites at Sawley in Derbyshire, and Atherstone in Warwickshire. Recruitment is also underway.
The supermarket has been working with Dematic and Cimcorp, to install the very latest automated storage systems there, including machinery that will unpack deliveries from suppliers and store cases of products in floor-to-ceiling racking before deliveries.
Aldi has invested more than £500million into Bardon. It’s part of Aldi’s wider £1.6bn investment in Britain during 2026 and 2027.
Giles Hurley, Chief Executive Officer of Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “The state-of-the-art technology in Bardon will significantly increase the efficiency of our warehouse network, meaning we can continue to deliver the best possible prices for our customers, every single day.
“Our ambition is to make quality groceries affordable and accessible to all, and that can only happen when everybody in Britain has an Aldi store on their doorstep.
“That’s why we’re committing significant investment in opening new stores and Distribution Centres up and down the country, taking us closer to our goal of having 1,500 stores across the UK.”