Aldi snaps up abandoned London psychiatric hospital

Aldi has snapped up an abandoned London psychiatric hospital, City AM can reveal, in the latest sign discount supermarkets are getting increasingly creative in their search to acquire land to expand their UK footprint.

The German grocer, which has over 1,000 stores in the UK but hopes to increase this by as many as 500, has signed a mortgage agreement to take over the huge site in Walthamstow with the North East London NHS Foundation Trust, from whom it acquired the land, according to documents seen by City AM.

Aldi declined to comment on its plans for the site or the terms of the mortgage arrangement, but planning documents show it has proposed opening a new “foodstore” on the land.

Aldi is expected to open as many as 40 new stories in the UK in 2026 as part of £370m investment plans, with a host of locations earmarked in London, including affluent areas such as in Kensington, Notting Hill and Chiswick. 

The supermarket chain has offered a finder’s fee of as much as 1.5 per cent of the freehold price or 10 per cent of the first year’s rent for leasehold sites, in signs the firm has had to rely on external support to help it identify enough appropriate locations for new stores.

Aldi’s German rival Lidl has also gone to extreme lengths to find ways to expand its UK footprint, going as far as to open its first-ever pub in a bid to overcome strict licensing laws in Northern Ireland.

Aldi adds to complex history of Walthamstow site

The Walthamstow land was previously occupied by Thorpe Coombe Hospital, a maternity hospital-turned mental health clinic that opened in 1934 but was ultimately closed in 2017. A new health and wellbeing centre was opened next door in 2019.

The hospital operated out of a converted 18th century private villa that was once the home of Octavius Wigram, a former governor of British insurer the Royal Exchange Assurance Corporation and owner of two ships in the service of the East India Company.

It is understood that Aldi’s plan for building a supermarket will not replace the villa itself but will instead be built in and around the 80-space car park to its rear.

In its latest accounts, Aldi generated turnover of £18.1bn in the UK, with a pre-tax profit of just over £400m. The firm has risen up the ranks to become the fourth largest supermarket in the UK, with a market share of 10.6 per cent according to data from Kantar.