Aldi is planning a brand new £7 million store in Llanelli — and this time, it’s heading to Sandy Road, on the site of the Pinopolis family entertainment centre opposite Ysgol y Strade and Coleg Sir Gâr’s Graig Campus.
The site is currently home to Pinopolis, which only opened in April 2023, offering bowling, darts, soft play and a diner under one roof. It won’t be fighting the development.
David Edwards of Pinopolis confirmed the centre was now looking for a new home, saying the Sandy Road site was “no longer economically or operationally viable.”
He added: “Aldi provides a deliverable alternative to the site, which will bring benefits to the local community. We encourage our customers to support the application and have their say on the consultation.”
(Image: Google Maps)
Aldi has been on an aggressive UK expansion drive in recent years, actively targeting new sites in towns where it believes there is unmet demand for discount grocery shopping. The Sandy Road proposal represents what the company describes as a “renewal of its commitment” to Llanelli.
This would actually be the third Aldi to serve Llanelli. The original store was in the town centre, next to the historic Buckleys Brewery building. It closed last year, having been deemed unsuitable due to operational constraints — and plans were subsequently approved to convert it into a Pure Gym.
The closure disappointed many shoppers who valued the convenience of a town centre location. The second store — which opened at Trostre in December 2021 — remains open. The proposed Sandy Road store would be in addition to Trostre, not a replacement for it.
Aldi real estate director Rob Jones said: “We are thrilled to bring forward plans for a new Aldi store in Llanelli. We encourage residents to participate in our consultation to learn more about the scheme and share their views.”
According to Aldi’s own figures, the proposed store would create up to 40 new jobs, with store assistants paid a minimum of £13.50 an hour. Additional employment would be generated during the construction phase and through the supply chain, the company says.
The plans include 133 car parking spaces — six accessible and nine parent and child spaces.
There is one obvious question the planning application will need to answer: traffic. Sandy Road has been one of Llanelli’s most stubborn congestion hotspots for years.
The problems intensified following the installation of traffic lights to serve the housing estate built on the site of the former Stradey Park rugby ground — the historic home of the Scarlets and Llanelli RFC before the move to Parc y Scarlets.
Carmarthenshire Council has made multiple attempts to ease the congestion, including road improvement works and junction changes.
Councillors said the most recent improvements were already making a difference — but the arrival of a large supermarket on the same stretch will inevitably revive those concerns.
Aldi says families in towns without access to a discount supermarket pay up to £836 more per year on average for their groceries — rising to £2,437 in areas dominated by higher-priced supermarkets. The company says the new store would help tackle that “postcode penalty” for residents in west Llanelli, Pwll, Burry Port and surrounding communities.
A statutory pre-application consultation is running until 11 June.
