Aldi has made the first delivery from its £500 million Bardon Distribution Centre in Leicestershire, marking the start of initial operations at what the retailer claims to be the UK’s largest supermarket warehouse.

Aldi said the site will eventually employ around 1,000 people and forms part of a wider £1.6 billion investment programme in Britain across 2026 and 2027.

Once fully operational, the site will serve nearly 350 stores across the UK and handle up to seven million pallets of stock a year, acting as a national replenishment hub. The site includes 100 HGV bays at the front and a further 40 at the rear, enabling high-volume inbound and outbound movements across the distribution centre.

At 1.3 million square feet, Bardon is the UK’s largest distribution centre, with capacity equivalent to 65 Aldi stores or nearly 17 football pitches.

Aldi has worked with technology partners Dematic and Cimcorp to install automated storage systems, including machinery that unloads supplier deliveries and stores cases in floor-to-ceiling racking for later dispatch.

Giles Hurley, chief executive officer of Aldi UK and Ireland, said the new site would increase efficiency across the network. He said: “The state-of-the-art technology in Bardon will significantly increase the efficiency of our warehouse network, meaning we can continue to deliver the best possible prices for our customers, every single day.”

Planning for the site was approved in August 2020, with groundworks starting the following April and main construction completed in 2024. The building features 19,000 rooftop solar panels and is designed to generate all electricity required at times, contributing to low carbon density performance.

Around 1,000 colleagues will work at Bardon, including staff transferring from Aldi sites in Sawley and Atherstone. Recruitment is ongoing as the retailer builds its workforce ahead of full operations.

Aldi said the investment in Bardon sits alongside its broader expansion strategy, which includes a target of operating 1,500 stores across the UK. The company said the combination of new logistics capacity and store openings is intended to support long-term price competitiveness.

The retailer said the highly automated nature of the facility will reduce handling time across its network, allowing faster replenishment of stores and supporting its low-price positioning through operational savings.

Bardon’s scale makes it a significant logistics development for the East Midlands, adding long-term employment capacity and strengthening Aldi’s distribution footprint across the region.

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