ALDI has earmarked fourteen towns in Dorset where they aim to open a new store in the coming years.

The budget supermarket already has some branches around the county, including Weymouth, Poole and Bournemouth, but has revealed it still wants to build plenty more in the coming years.

It has set a target of having 1,200 stores open by 2025 as part of a major expansion of the chain in the UK.

At the time of writing, here are the 14 places in Dorset the supermarket giants want to expand to:

• Blandford

• Bournemouth

• Bridport

• Christchurch

• Dorchester

• Poole

• Shaftesbury

• Sherborne

• Sturminster Newton

• Swanage

• Verwood

• Wareham

• Weymouth

• Wimborne

Weymouth already has two Aldi stores and Dorset Echo has approached the supermarket for clarification. 

The chain is on the lookout 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 about 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.

“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.”