Lidl is set to open its first pub on the island of Ireland this summer after winning a legal battle.
Ashley Pemberton News Reporter
14:41, 11 Apr 2026
The Lidl supermarket site in Dundonald, Co Down(Image: Google Maps)
Budget supermarket chain Lidl is building a pub next to one of its shops on the island of Ireland. The bargain retail giant has started work on the boozer beside one of its Co Down stores, where strict NI licensing laws cap the number of premises that can sell alcohol.
The bar, which can hold 60 customers, will boast cosy booths and sell off-licence drinks when it opens this summer. It will operate in a separate premises next door to its store in Dundonald, which is located around 10km from Belfast.
Gordon Cruikshanks, Lidl’s managing director for Northern Ireland, said: “After six years in the planning process, we’re delighted to today confirm the development of a brand new public house and associated off-sales located adjacent to our Dundonald store.”
Licensing laws in the North mean supermarkets that want to sell alcohol must buy a licence that has been “surrendered” by another business and must show there is an inadequate number of existing licensed premises in an area to meet the public’s needs.
Lidl was unable to pass the inadequacy test for a standard off-licence, but could for a pub as two nearby bars had closed in recent years, Daily Star reports.
The German-owned retailer won a legal battle in January to open the bar after it had faced a High Court challenge from rivals who argued Lidl was trying to use an unlawful loophole to operate an off-licence.
They tried to argue that Lidl was just trying to open a pub to find a new way to run an off license after its initial plans were rejected some years ago.
Building has already started(Image: Lidl)
But Mr Justice Colton said the law did not stand in the way of a business taking an innovative approach and said: “The fact that the application is a novel one is not a reason for refusing it.
“I accept that it has concluded that the public house will be profitable, knowing that if it closed through lack of profitability an evitable consequence would be that the off-licence permission would lapse following any such decision.
“I am satisfied that it meets the statutory requirements and there is no good reason for refusing the application.”
It is expected to open this summer and offer an “off-licence service along with a public house”. The company said it will serve “selected lines” from Lidl’s beer, wine and spirit range, with a focus on promoting local suppliers.
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