Lidl’s new supermarket branch at the West12 Centre in Shepherds Bush Green was opened yesterday (22 February).

The news is a huge boost for shops around the Green, increasing footfall and providing a supermarket for the local community once again after Morrisons left the centre in 2016.

The arrival of such an important ‘anchor’ retailer was welcomed by Cllr Sue Fennimore, Deputy Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council.

“This is a significant opening for the West12 shopping centre and for Shepherds Bush,” she said. “It is vital that the area once again has a major community supermarket at its heart, providing jobs for local people and underlining the importance of H&F as a great place to live, work and visit.”

The ribbon-cutting took place at 8am when the shop opened, with a range of special offers to entice early customers.

Forty new jobs have been created in the 1,245m² sales area which features an in-store bakery, long-style tills and self-service checkouts.

“We can’t wait to start serving our multi-award winning products to the local community,” said Lidl UK’s Shane O’Farrell.

Shepherds Bush is booming

A wave of new projects in Shepherds Bush and White City aim to deliver significant growth for residents, new businesses, private and social housing, jobs and infrastructure, as outlined in H&F Council’s new Industrial Strategy.

This includes how local residents will have first choice on the 8,000 jobs up for grabs at the new £600million Westfield London expansion.

In addition, the new £33 million John Lewis store in the Westfield extension will open its doors on 20 March alongside a host of other retailers – making it the largest shopping centre in Europe.

Across the road, the Petit Miracle Hub has become a hotspot for entrepreneurial local people. H&F Council has worked alongside the non-profit business incubator and recently gave £50,000 to help fund their hugely successful Start Your Own Enterprise course.

Meanwhile over in Wood Lane, the council’s innovative partnership with Imperial College London aims to make the borough a European beacon for innovation and growth. The thriving tech hub in White City – which includes firms specialising in virtual reality (VR) to instant book-keeping technology – complements the flagship Incubator scheme at the I-Hub facility in supporting the development of emerging technology businesses.