Aldi Preston: contractors move in to clear site for a new store on city's docks

Contractors are demolishing the former Trident building which has been empty for more than three years.

Plans have been approved for a double retail unit in its place - one half to house an Aldi outlet and the other an unnamed discount retailer.

The Aldi store is expected to be trading before the end of next year. The German retailer is also set to begin building a new store on the site of the old Cottam Brickworks as part of an £80m local centre for the north west of the city.

The new stores will be the company's fifth and sixth in Preston.

The Trident building on Portway - at the rear of the KFC restaurant - was the headquarters and call centre of holiday company NetFlights.com, part of the Gold Medal Travel Group.

It has stood empty since the firm moved out to new premises in May 2019. Efforts to market the building have proved fruitless, with only “limited” interest shown in renting it.

In recent months it has been vandalised by intruders and contractors have had to fence the site off to prevent it becoming hazardous.

Architects say the aim is to replace it with two new high quality retail units “creating a sense of place and a development with character.”

The new Aldi store will be only 500 yards from its arch-rival Lidl which has a unit outside the Docklands on Strand Road.

The two new stores on the site are expected to create up to 100 full-time equivalent jobs between them.