A supermarket expansion has begun with a prominent building set to be demolished.

Aldi’s branch in East Street, Sittingbourne, is being refurbished more than five years after plans to revamp the store were first lodged.

As part of the work, the German retail giant will knock down the empty Swale Martial Arts Club building next door to make way for bigger premises, including an expanded shop floor.

The store will remain open for the majority of the works but will close for a short period next year.

Aldi will inform shoppers of the closure dates closer to the time with staff temporarily moving to another branch.

There will be an extra 27 car parking spaces, taking the total from 75 to 102. Six will be disabled bays while seven will be parent and child spaces.

The cream-coloured brick building which martial artists used for more than 40 years has been empty since 2019 when the club moved away from East Street.

The proposals for the 20-year-old store were green-lit by Swale council on Friday, May 31 after being tabled in November.

Planning permission for the discount supermarket’s expansion has been granted twice by the authority already - firstly in December 2018 and then in March last year.

But bosses told councillors they wanted to wait until the store nine miles away in Neats Court, Queenborough, was open so local shoppers would have an alternative during construction.

KentOnline revealed this store is now set to open in July with aerial footage showing the progress on the £9 million shop off of the A249, Thomsett Way roundabout.

Aldi told KentOnline previously it had hoped to have the Sittingbourne work completed by the end of this year, but it has since declined to comment on whether this timeframe remains.

It also would not be drawn on how much the expansion is costing and how many new roles it will generate.