LIDL has announced plans to open 10 new stores across Greater Manchester, including one already earmarked for Oldham.

A deal was signed in May or the highly successful discount stores to open an outlet at the town's coming Prince's Gate development at Oldham Mumps alongside a new Travelodge hotel.

The move, which is set to create approximately 400 new jobs, follows the opening of two new Lidl stores in Littleborough and Stretford earlier this year and adds to the supermarket’s current estate of 30 stores across Greater Manchester.

Lidl’s future flagship Manchester store at City Tower, Piccadilly Gardens, is set to open its doors to customers on Thursday, October 17.

As part of its regeneration programme, and to cater for growing demand in the area, the discounter is also enhancing its existing store in Golborne, by relocating it to a bigger site on Bridge Street. Earlier in the year, Lidl also relocated its Todmorden store, and refurbished its central Wigan and Farnworth stores.

Nick Harvey, regional head of property at Lidl GB, said: “Since opening our very first store in Britain in 1994, we’ve opened 30 Lidl stores across Greater Manchester, providing communities with quality products at prices that make them affordable and accessible for everyone. As customer demand for the Lidl offering continues to grow in Manchester, we’re excited and proud to be in a position to continue opening new stores and creating more employment opportunities across the region.”

Locations for the new stores in Greater Manchester are:

• City Tower, Piccadilly Gardens

• Worsley Road, Winton

• Mill Street, Glossop

• Hattersley Retail Park, Tameside

• Oldham Mumps, Oldham

• Cheetham Hill, Manchester

• West One Retail Park, Eccles

• Bromley Cross, Bolton

• Furthergate, Blackburn

• Altrincham Retail Park, Altrincham

The news comes as Lidl GB celebrates the 25th anniversary of opening its first store, back in 1994. The discounter now operates a network of over 770 stores and 13 distribution centres nationwide.

Each new Lidl store in Manchester will be linked up with local good causes through the retailer’s Feed it Back initiative, designed to tackle food waste.

All of the discounter’s stores donate surplus food to charities and local projects via Neighbourly, a platform designed to link businesses with community organisations. To date, Lidl stores in Greater Manchester have donated over 24 tonnes of surplus food, equating to over 57,000 meals to 37 local community projects.