A new Lidl store is coming to Dover at the end of the year now planning consent has been given.

The new discount food shop will provide 40 new jobs and has 159 car parking spaces on a 1.21ha site in Whitfield.

Cllr Paul Watkins, Leader of Dover District Council, said: “I am delighted that Lidl are coming to the Dover district."

He added: "They have clearly seen the potential of a growing district and I am sure many local residents will welcome the increased choice that a new Lidl store brings to the area.”

Lidl has over 650 stores nationwide and is one of Europe’s leading discount retailers.

The planned Dover store will feature Lidl’s new store format with wider aisles, customer toilets and baby changing facilities, and self-service tills. The store will stock a range of 2,000 products, including a bakery.

It is the second time the town has hosted a Lidl with a store previously placed at the former MFI store in Maison Dieu Road.

The cost of the scheme has not been revealed but an official statement from Dover District Council cites a "seven figure investment".

It joins a growing list of new retailers attracted to Dover's Honeywood Retail Park which opened in 2015 with B&M, Pets at Home, Bensons for Beds, and KFC.

It ties in with the construction at the St James's Development which provides 157,000 sq. ft. of new retail and leisure space in Dover town centre.