Aldi has announced the location of 16 new stores opening across the UK in the coming months. 

Over the next few months Aldi will open stores in London's Marble Arch, Port Talbot, Wales, and Wigan in Greater Manchester. 

Other locations where a new Aldi store is opening soon include Ashford in Kent, Rayleigh in Essex and Sudbury in Suffolk.  

The supermarket chain has more than 1,080 stores nationwide and is ploughing ahead with its plan to have 1,500 stores in Britain. 

Aldi's announcement today follows the opening of the chain's new Salford Quays store last month and forms part of its planned £370million investment in new stores this year. 

In February, Aldi announced its second wage increase for floor staff since the new year, as it battles to boost its market share in the UK.

Aldi said it would pay its shop assistants £13.50 per hour from April, with staff in London paid £14.88. Both rates increase with length of service.

Lidl GB, Waitrose and Sainsbury's all announced above-inflation pay rises for staff in February.

In February, Aldi said the wage hike will benefit 28,000 staff, and said the changes made its entry-level workers the highest paid of all supermarket staff. 

Jonathan Neale, managing director of national real estate at Aldi UK, said: 'At Aldi, we’re committed to making high-quality, affordable food accessible to everyone, which is why we continue to invest in expanding our store network across the UK.

'Our £370million investment in new stores this year will help us bring Aldi’s unbeatable value to even more communities, supporting local economies through our industry-leading pay for colleagues.' 

Supermarkets battle for customers 

Lidl overtook beleaguered Morrisons to become Britain’s fifth biggest supermarket for the first time, data published in May revealed.

Lidl holds an 8.6 per cent share of the grocery market, according to figures from Worldpanel by Numerator for the three months to 17 May - ahead of traditional heavyweight Morrisons, which slipped to 8.3 per cent. 

Lidl poached customers from traditional major supermarkets by opening more shops over the past few years, growing its market share to a new record, from 8.1 per cent at the same time last year. 

Retail experts said Lidl had enjoyed an impressive ascent, as twenty years ago it made up just 1.4 per cent of the market.

By contrast, Morrisons has been struggling to retain shoppers since its private-equity buyout a few years ago. 

Sales at Lidl leapt 8.8 per cent to £3.16billion over the three months, compared to the same time frame last year. 

At Morrisons, they grew just 1.3 per cent to just over £3billion. 

Lidl announced earlier this year that it would open more than 50 new stores in the next 12 months as part of a £600million investment - creating almost 2,000 new jobs.  

Britain's two largest grocers, Tesco and Sainsbury's, saw spending rise by 3.2 per cent and 3.1 per cent in the period, while sales at Aldi rose 0.6 per cent. 

Aldi already elbowed Morrisons out of the top four in 2022.