A town centre budget supermarket closed today and will not reopen for two months.

Aldi’s branch in East Street, Sittingbourne, shut at 4pm to allow for its new shop floor space to be built as part of a revamp of its 20-year-old store.

Work started in June and has already seen the cream-coloured, former Swale Martial Arts Club building next door demolished.

It made way for the extension and more parking spaces.

The German giant will not reopen the store until 8am on Thursday, March 13.

Once work has been completed there will be an extra 27 car parking spaces, taking the total from 75 to 102. Six will be disabled bays while seven will be parent and child spaces.

The plan was approved by Swale council on Friday, May 31 after being tabled last November.

Planning permission had been granted by the authority twice, in December 2018 and March 2023.

But Aldi bosses told councillors they wanted to wait until the store nine miles away in Neats Court, Queenborough, was open so local shoppers would have an alternative during construction.

That store opened in July. Some shoppers started queueing up at 7.30am to be one of the first 30 customers who were given complimentary bags of fresh fruit and vegetables.

KentOnline has previously asked Aldi how much the East Street expansion is costing and how many new roles it will generate but it declined to comment.