Aldi brings 15 new jobs and hundreds of shoppers to Kells

Fifteen new jobs have been created in Kells with the opening of the new Aldi store in the town on Thursday morning. Huge crowds flocked to the Kells outlet over the weekend which saw large volumes of traffic passing through the town. The cathaoirleach of Kells Town Council, Cllr Brian Curran, welcomed Aldi to the town and commented on the substantial crowds which visited the store over the weekend. "It brought a great volume of people to the town and will eventually have a very positive spin-off for Kells," he said. Local suppliers to the new store include the Navan-based company Spicers, which supplies Aldi with bread, baps and cream buns, and Largo Foods, Ashbourne, which supplies crisps and snacks. The opening of the Cavan Road store brings the total number of Aldi stores in Ireland to 70. The new Kells store is Aldi's second in Meath, the first having opened in Ashbourne in November 2005. Aldi's first store in Ireland opened on Parnell Street in Dublin in November 1999. The German discount supermarket got the green light to proceed with the development in Kells in July of last year. Emdan Developments, a McKeon Group company, was the main contractor for the 8.5 acre Kells Retail Park site, which includes Aldi. Meanwhile, Meath County Council is seeking further information on Aldi's plans for a supermarket at Brews Hill in Navan. Aldi has applied for permission for a 1,541sq metre single storey discount foodstore on part of the Navan O'Mahony's GFC site at Brews Hill. A previous application for an Aldi store at Navan's new retail park at Knockumber was refused by Meath County Council and this decision was upheld by Bord Pleanala. There has also been pre-planning consultations regarding a possible new Aldi store for Trim. A recent meeting of Trim Town Council was told that a planning application for an Aldi supermarket in Trim had not yet been lodged. If the group is to go ahead with plans for a supermarket on a Longwood Road site, which has been suggested as the location for the new store, it would require a change of zoning (variation) or material contravention of the local development plan to allow the development to proceed.