Lidl 'to open 250 new stores and create 5,000 jobs in London'

Lidl has said it will create 5,000 jobs in London and invest £70m in a new UK headquarters in the capital.

The announcement came as the retailer laid out its plans to open nearly 250 new stores in London as part of £1.5bn planned investment in the UK over the next three years.

The plan will see it more than double the number of its UK stores to 1,500.

The German discount retailer has also received planning permission to build a new head office in south-west London.

Lidl, which currently employs 19,000 people in the UK, recently opened a distribution centre in Southampton and has committed to open warehouses in Wednesbury in the West Midlands, Exeter and Doncaster.