Hitchin and St Albans are among 500 proposed locations for new Aldi stores, the supermarket retailer has announced.

The announcement comes after the recent opening of the supermarket chain's 1,000th UK store in Woking, Surrey. 

The move is said to be part of a two-year, £1.3 billion investment into expansion and would see Aldi's UK portfolio grow to 1,500 stores.

Aldi UK and Ireland CEO Giles Hurley said: "Opening our 1,000th store is a huge milestone and wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work and dedication of our 40,000 incredible colleagues.

"Our popularity is growing, and there is huge demand for people to have an Aldi store near to them to increase shoppers’ access to our unbeatable prices.

“The next phase of our expansion will involve another 500 new stores over the coming years. It is a long-term target and is not a ceiling to our ambition to have an Aldi store close to everyone in the UK.”

Hitchin, St Albans and Harpenden are among the proposed locations, with the following sites in East Anglia, Essex and Hertfordshire also under consideration:

  • Cambridge (South)
  • Basildon
  • Brentwood
  • Basildon
  • Rayleigh
  • Southend / Leigh on Sea
  • Ware