Lidl’s Fulham Launch Comes a Step Closer
Supermarket applies for drinks licence for new North End Road store
Local MP Greg Hands has launched a petition to save the Post Office at the branch
The launch of Lidl at 254 - 258 North End Road, the site which is currently home to the Co-op, has come a step closer with a licensing application submitted to H&F Council.
The application, which can be found on the council’s website using reference 2022/01615/LAPR is open for comments until 8 November.
The application is for a new premises licence for Lidl Great Britain Limited, and says: “ The premises is a supermarket, they wish to license their premises to cover the sale of alcohol for consumption off the premises only. Licensable activities sought: the sale of alcohol Mondays to Sundays between the hours of 7am to 11pm.”
Applications to convert the store’s interior and add new signs have already been approved by the council.
While Lidl has confirmed it will be launching the new store, it has not yet announced an opening date and one outstanding issue remains - the post office which is currently at the back of the Co-op store. As we reported in May this year, the proposed layout of the new Lidl store does not appear to include any space for a post office.
Now, according to Chelsea and Fulham MP Greg Hands, the Post Office has been advised by Co-op, which operates the post office in the store, to leave. The notice period expires in September 2023.
The MP says that he knows many residents rely on the services that this particular branch supplies, adding that when Fulham Crown Post Office on Farm Lane closed in 2003, Post Office Ltd assured him there would continue to be a major branch on or just off North End Road.
To show local demand and pressure the Post Office and/or the Co-op to keep fulfilling that pledge, the MP has launched a petition aimed at saving the branch, though with the store set to change hands, it is uncertain who would be the recipient.
Though this closure would leave North End Road itself without a post office, there are several small counters within nearby convenience stores, including Fulham Broadway and Dawes and Munster Roads.
Co-op Food has not yet revealed its future plans, but it does have a number of relatively close smaller branches, at locations including Lillie and Munster Roads and further up North End Road.
When it opens, the new store will be Lidl's third supermarket in the borough, adding to branches open in Livat in Hammersmith's King Street and the W12 Shopping Centre in Shepherd's Bush.
Specialist planning and development consultants Walsingham Planning, submitting the now approved planning applications for the new store on behalf of Lidl claimed, "The proposals will modernise the existing use and improve the overall shopping experience for consumers."
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The existing Co-op store on North End Road
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October 31, 2022