Aldi has begun operations at what it says is the largest supermarket warehouse in Britain.
The 1.3m sq ft distribution centre in Bardon, Leicestershire, is 100,000 sq ft larger than Lidl’s Luton DC, which it hailed as its biggest in the world when it opened in 2023.
Aldi has ploughed more than £500m into the site, part of a previously announced £1.6bn investment in Britain during 2026 and 2027.
Using state-of-the-art automation, the facility will handle nearly seven million pallets a year and serve nearly 350 stores once fully operational, while providing about 1,000 jobs, according to Aldi. It will also serve as a national replenishment hub, supporting Aldi’s existing warehouse network.
The new site is replacing Aldi warehouses in Sawley in Derbyshire and Atherstone in Warwickshire, where workers are in a consultation with the option of relocation. The Grocer understands those sites will wind down as the new facility progresses toward being fully operational by 2027. The Sawley warehouse is due close while the Atherstone one located at Aldi’s head office may be repurposed. Aldi has not disclosed how many workers are affected by the change.
M&S Food is building an automated DC that is just as large as Aldi’s new one, at Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal in Northamptonshire, but that is not due to open until 2029.
Read more: What does M&S’s new DC say about warehouse logistics?
Aldi secured planning permission for the Bardon facility in 2020, began construction the following year and completed the main in building in 2024. Deliveries have now begun.
High-tech automation
The facility is made up of five linked buildings, including four ambient and six temperature-controlled chambers for chilled and frozen products. Aldi has been working with technology partners Dematic and Cimcorp to install machines that will unpack deliveries from suppliers and store cases of products in floor-to-ceiling racking until it is ready to be delivered to stores.
Aldi sees reducing its cost base through new operational efficiencies as a way to maintain and grow a significant price gap below rivals. Its market share has been slipping recently, down from 11% to 10.8% year on year [Worldpanel by Numerator 12 w/e 17 May 2026]. Efficiency is seen as a way to continue to attract new customers and maintain growth in the long term.
The new facility is also the lowest carbon density warehouse across the Aldi South Group, according to the discounter, with the 19,000 solar panels on the roof able to generate all the electricity required at the site at certain times.
“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,” said Aldi UK & Ireland CEO Giles Hurley.
“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.”
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