Wiltshire's newest supermarket has opened its doors for the first time after three years of waiting, but does it really live up to the hype?
The new Lidl superstore, on Brinkworth Road in Royal Wootton Bassett, opened its doors for the first time on Thursday, February 5, 2026, and welcomed customers in with freebies, prizes and pastries.
It's a supermarket that has been almost three years in the making and has battled through several setbacks and criticisms to get to this point.
Plans were first approved for the store back at a council meeting in September 2023, one of the first council meetings I ever attended when I began working for the Swindon Advertiser/Gazette and Herald.
Having written countless times over the last three years about the fears, excitement, early construction, endless roadworks and adjacent country park developments, I do feel that, like many Bassett residents, I have literally been waiting years to see this brought to life.
Speaking to customers inside the store on Thursday morning, it was clear that I'm not the only one who had been watching the development with eagle eyes.
"I live just around the corner and I've been watching them build this for ages and living with all the roadworks so I'm glad it's finished now," customer Alan-Lee Nash told me, after winning one of Lidl's first hamper giveaways.
"I thought I would just come in to do my shopping and now I have won - it's amazing!"
The store itself is pretty much everything you'd want in a local supermarket.
It's clean, well designed, the smell of fresh pastries hits you as soon as you walk in the doors, the shelves were stocked to the brim, the staff friendly and approachable, and the aisles wide enough to not feel cramped.
You can tell a lot of thought has gone into tailoring this store for its local customers. Area manager Adam told me how Lidl had decided to specifically recruit its new team from the Royal Wootton Bassett community, holding interviews in the local council offices.
The number of spaces in the large car park (which includes electric chargers) has been chosen to meet local demand, and trenches and drainage points dug out at the back of the site to collect excess rainwater, after fears were raised about flooding and sewage.
At first glance, I really couldn't see anything not to love about this shop. Even an adjacent country park with play equipment for children has been landscaped next door, ready to open when the weather picks up.
However, I overheard several customers already comparing the new store to the existing Aldi, which is just a 10 minute walk away.
This was one of the biggest concerns when the new Lidl was first approved. Bassett residents have previously told this paper back in 2023 that this store was "unnecessarily" and would draw customers away from Aldi and the Sainsburys, butchers, and bakeries in the town centre.
However, speaking to shoppers on Thursday morning, the reaction was only positivity towards both superstores.
The Lidl feels slightly more modern and spacious, which makes sense as it was built later, and has the benefit of the green space next door. Other than that, I couldn't see much difference.
"You've usually got quite a split between the Aldi people and the Lidl people, but I actually think having the two so close together means a lot of people who can't find a certain product in one can pop over the road and try the other," commented Robert Collis, chairman of the parish council.
"There's a lot of development planned for the town, not all of it is good, but we're quite happy about this one."
Overall, it seems as though the new Lidl has hit the mark, and it seems well worth a visit, if not for the free food on offer until Saturday, February 7.
The Lidl store on Brinkworth Road will be open from 8am–10pm Monday to Saturday and 10am-4pm on Sundays.
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