Aldi: This is how work is progressing on the new store at Preston Docks

The metal superstructure and brickwork is in place at the site off Portway, which used to house the Trident building.

Plans have been approved for a double retail unit in its place - one half to house an Aldi outlet and the other an unnamed discount retailer – creating up to 100 full-time equivalent jobs between them.

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This week the site has been abuzz with activity, with heavy machinery was coming and going from the site, which still features large piles of rubble from the clearance site as well as mounds of soil.

The whole area is protected with metal fencing, and roadworks outside the site and nearby KFC was disrupting traffic in Portway as well as visitors to JD Gym.

When will it be finished?

Aldi have declined to comment to the Post on when the site will be ready, but last year said it would be finished by the end of 2023.

The German retailer is also building a new store on the site of the old Cottam Brickworks as part of an £80m local centre for the north west of the city.

What used to be on the site?

The Trident building on Portway - at the rear of the KFC restaurant - was the headquarters and call centre of holiday company NetFlights.com, part of the Gold Medal Travel Group.

It stood empty since the firm moved out to new premises in May 2019. Efforts to market the building proved fruitless, with only “limited” interest shown in renting it.