Doors open at Lidl's third Ipswich store off Bury Road

The new store's doors opened at 8am on Thursday - with the honours falling to pupils from the nearby Whitehouse Community Primary School.

Children from Whitehouse Primary opened the new Lidl store at Anglia Retail Park. (Image: Lucy Taylor)

The new store has been built on the site of the former B&Q garden centre on the retail park - but is a separate building to the rest of the stores on the site.

It is a large Lidl carrying a full range of stock - including the 'Middle of Lidl' short-term offerings that are popular with many shoppers.

The Middle of Lidl is always popular - once the doors have opened to the public. (Image: Lucy Taylor)

The store was built and is owned by the council's property arm Ipswich Borough Assets (IBA), which owns the retail park, and is leased to the German-owned discount giant.

It joins existing Lidl stores on Futura Park and at the junction of Handford Road and London Road in the town.

Lidl staff preparing for their first customers. (Image: Lucy Taylor)

A total of 31 jobs have been created at the store - some have transferred to Anglia Retail Park from other nearby stores and some are new to the company.

IBA chair Colin Kreidewolf was at the opening of the store with council leader Neil MacDonald.

Colin Kreidewolf and Neil MacDonald at the opening of the new Lidl. (Image: Lucy Taylor)

Mr Kreidewolf said: "It's good to see it finally completed. It's taken longer than we hoped but it is good for the area."

He said IBA would be monitoring the amount of traffic in the Anglia Retail Park following its opening and was in regular contact with Suffolk Highways in a bid to ensure that there was easy access.

"This just about completes the park - there is one more small area that could be developed but overall this is pretty much the final piece. Now we will look to maintain the park as a whole to encourage people to use it."