ALDI has announced it wants to open new stores in almost every town in Oxfordshire.

The supermarket chain said it is looking for new locations for shops across the county, including Oxford.

It also said it is looking for sites in Abingdon, Wantage, Didcot, Wallingford, Witney, Kidlington and Banbury.

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Under these plans, the company would have stores in every town in Oxfordshire except for Thame.

It said each site should be around 1.5 acres and able to accommodate a 20,000sq ft store with around 100 parking spaces, 'ideally on a main road and with good visibility and access'.

Aldi, a German company, already has two stores in Oxford – on Botley Road and in Cowley – and stores in Bicester, Carterton and Faringdon.

It also has a store in Didcot – but seemingly now wants another one in the town.

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The company recently applied for planning permission to open a new store in Grove near Wantage, but Vale of White Horse District Council refused the plan on the grounds it would have taken up too much green space.

The chain, which has more than 880 stores across the UK, is aiming to have 1,200 by 2025.

Ciaran Aldridge, national property director at Aldi UK, said: “Aldi is growing rapidly and we are welcoming around a million new customers into our stores every year.

“But there are also hundreds of towns across the UK where there is not an Aldi, meaning there are hundreds of thousands of people who can’t easily access the high quality, affordable food our customers love.

“We are willing to explore all opportunities, including developer-led schemes or existing retail units.”